China and the Grand Old Party

I have a shortish article over at Right Web on the role that China is playing in the GOP primary campaign. As a left-slant piece it may not be of interest to everyone, but I argue that there's a growing divide in the GOP between the elite foreign policy apparatus (which remains centered around the DC think tank set, and broadly speaking has what many would call a neo-connish slant), and the corporate/commercial base on the question of China. The foreign policy types want to push in the direction of confrontation, while the more economic-oriented types are quite happy to maintain positive commercial relations, and are very resistant to anything that might provoke tension. Both of these factions, unsurprisingly, are represented in Mitt Romney's campaign, although his public rhetoric on China has been fairly confrontational. For what it's worth, I regard Romney as a strong-but-not-prohibitive favorite for the GOP nod, and then a mild favorite against Obama in the general.