HONG KONG — U.S. President Barack Obama decided to back off at least from an immediate direct confrontation with China over the value of the yuan. It is a sensible decision on both economic and political counts. But there is no sign yet that policymakers and noisy troublemakers in Washington, Boston, New York, Tokyo and — least of all — Beijing understand that much more needs to be done: some radical thinking, new attitudes to bilateral and multilateral relations, or we all face a grim future in which a trade war would only be the first dangerous escalation.

What has been done is to buy some time, but time must be used wisely, not wasted.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Obama obviously did a deal whereby Washington postponed a decision on whether to name China as a "currency manipulator" to tempt Hu to attend the Washington nuclear security summit and support the United States over its concerns about Iran. The links between the nuclear summit and the currency question offer a reminder that these are just two strands in a huge spaghetti plate of vital issues today tying Washington to Beijing and Tokyo and other global capitals.