Three members of the Bush cabinet will be in Beijing for trade talks tomorrow, one day after a visit there today by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Some of the issues that come up will be genuinely difficult: for example, how to reconcile the U.S. interest in protecting the intellectual property that’s the lifeblood of its ideas-based economy with Chinese indifference to such rights at its stage of development. Yet other issues in the U.S.-China relationship shouldn’t be so difficult to handle. The upcoming meetings provide an opportunity to defuse tensions.