I recently downloaded 1000 pages of data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. What I actually wanted was data on freight and energy consumption but I decided it was easier to get all that was available and then extract the data I was after.

The reason I wanted freight and energy was to get some idea of how general the growth in China is -- given that there is skepticism in some circles about the actual numbers coming out of China.

It’s been almost a month since Google (GOOG) caused a global uproar by saying it no longer wanted to censor results of its Chinese search engine, Google.cn. Since then, analysts have touted China’s Internet search leader Baidu (BIDU) as a can’t-miss.

At first glance this seems reasonable enough – indeed, the share price of Baidu’s Nasdaq-listed unit has gone up 10.5% since Google’s January 12 announcement, and it just posted better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Is China’s reaction to last week’s announced US arms sale to Taiwan really all that more strident than in the past? Should America be worried? To read a New York Times article published last week, citing the usual ragbag of US-based “China experts”, you might conclude so.

I don’t buy it. China is not set, contrary to such reports, firmly on a course to antagonize America. It is, however, a great power with legitimate national interests to assert and protect. Sometimes those will clash with America’s national interests. But the bilateral relationship also has a root system of common goals and shared admiration.