A country’s exchange rate cannot be a concern for it alone, since it must also affect its trading partners. But this is particularly true for big economies. So, whether China likes it or not, its heavily managed exchange rate regime is a legitimate concern of its trading partners. Its exports are now larger than those of any other country. The liberty of insignificance has vanished.

Naturally, the Chinese resent the pressure. At the conclusion of a European Union-China summit in Nanjing last week, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, complained about demands for Beijing to allow its currency to appreciate. He protested that “some countries on the one hand want the renminbi to appreciate, but on the other hand engage in brazen trade protectionism against China. This is unfair. Their measures are a restriction on China’s development.” The premier also repeated the traditional mantra: “We will maintain the stability of the renminbi at a reasonable and balanced level.”

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The FT’s Arena blog will this week recreate a virtual editorial conference by allowing readers to take part in the debate which helps shape a Financial Times editorial.

Over the course of this week, our editorial writers and specialists will debate an issue which will form the subject of an FT leader. One of our leader writers will open the debate. Readers are then invited to comment at the end of each post and the best comments will be picked up by us and added onto the main blog as posts.

This is your chance to join the debate and our chance to benefit from the opinions of our audience. At the end of the week one of the editorial team will sum up the debate, responding to readers’ contributions. The finished editorial will then be published on the website and in the newspaper on Monday. This week’s theme: should the return of high taxes be a temporary phenomenon or should governments take the opportunity to keep them high for social purposes?

Arena