The latest irritants are a "buy American" provision attached to White House-backed stimulus legislation moving through Congress and criticism of China's currency policies by Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Geithner accused Beijing of "manipulating" its currency during his Senate confirmation process.
Biden, interviewed Thursday by CNBC, said that the Obama administration would "say to China -- which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do --'You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that everybody else plays by."
Their comments followed a move by Chinese censors to silence part of a live broadcast of Obama's inaugural address when he spoke of the US struggle against communism.
And at an economic forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed China's economic woes on US-led Western financial institutions, suggesting "a lack of self-discipline" and "blind pursuit of profit."
Geithner accused Beijing of "manipulating" its currency during his Senate confirmation process.
Biden, interviewed Thursday by CNBC, said that the Obama administration would "say to China -- which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do --'You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that everybody else plays by."
Their comments followed a move by Chinese censors to silence part of a live broadcast of Obama's inaugural address when he spoke of the US struggle against communism.
And at an economic forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed China's economic woes on US-led Western financial institutions, suggesting "a lack of self-discipline" and "blind pursuit of profit."
