Confronting China

China is stepping up its opposition to giving Japan a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Rest assured that their concerns are more strategic and long-term than a fit of pique over two uninhabited, guano-encrusted rocks.

Meanwhile, another one for the “you heard it here first” file. Last fall, I attended a meeting at the Senate office buildings where Rep. Ed Royce was one of the luminaries present. Royce, a Republican from California, first hinted that this spring, we were likely to see the emergence of a coalition of pro-labor Democrats and human rights Republicans proposing new import duties on cheap Chinese goods.

Is this the first sign of that? The article doesn’t exactly say so, so I’m putting these pieces together myself. While I’m opposed to trade quotas in principle, this is one of those rare cases where strategic and human rights concerns outweigh economics. The unfortunate side effect is that it could serve to reverse a recent positive trend–rising wages in China.