Under Lock and Key, Then Home Free.

• Position: Threat of boycott against "Made in China" products - Review - Brief Article

The U.S.-China standoff last month was about more than a damaged Navy spy plane and its detained crew. It was about showing respect, protecting relations, and shopping at Kmart.

Leaders of the world's most powerful nation and of its most populous one are struggling in a new era of diplomacy. The U.S. and China aren't exactly friends, but they aren't quite enemies either. Roles and rules aren't as defined as they were in the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. What's different is that, although the cultures of the U.S. and China are often at odds, their economies are more and more intertwined. U.S.-China trade has now passed $75 billion, a 20 percent increase from 1999. U.S. businesses, which invested nearly $20 billion in China last year, are hoping to tap into 1.2 billion new customers.

But uncertain politics can devastate the economics. Angry at China for holding the spy plane's crew, many of Kmart's customers...