Forty-three years after Richard Nixon made his famous visit to China, that country has seemingly decided to take a page from the former U.S. president's Treasury Department. As China lowers the value of the yuan, the country's economic policymakers are mimicking the blase attitude of Nixon-era Treasury chief John Connally, who dismissed international complaints about U.S. monetary policy with a curt remark: "It's our currency, but it's your problem."

To be fair, Japan has acted with similar self-interest since late 2012, when its 35 percent devaluation began. But that raises a prickly question: What options do Asia's smaller economies have when the region's two biggest seem intent on passing their own vulnerabilities onto everyone else?

China will be watching closely for the region's response, for economic as well as political reasons. Beijing's designs for regional leadership have always depended on winning the loyalty of its neighbors in order to reduce America's financial, diplomatic and military role in Asia. Vietnam has already initiated a devaluation of its own, lowering the value of the dong by 1 percent on Wednesday in order to keep pace with China. Less clear are the potential responses of South Korea, Indonesia or the Philippines.