currency manipulation .

The accusations of currency manipulation are causing stress, and world leaders hope the issue does not turn controversy this week of the G-20 meet in Seoul on a rampage total world.

But a fiery debate may be inevitable, as the world's two largest economies, the U.S. and China are in an international dispute over the issue.

The United States has accused China of keeping its currency, the yuan, artificially low due to accumulation of foreign reserves in order to give Chinese exports an advantage over their competitors.

Meanwhile, China is drilling back, claiming 600 billion U.S. dollars from the Federal Reserve purchases bonds spree last week announced recently to help a global recovery.

So what is currency manipulation? Why is it important?

By selling its own currency and

the purchase of foreign exchange reserves as the U.S. dollar, China has fundamentally linked the yuan to the dollar rather than allowing it to move freely in currency markets.

While the Chinese government agreed to loosen bottlenecks in June, and allow the yuan more "flexibility" to determine, the currency has not appreciated much - only 2% since then.

What good is a cheaper currency?

A weak currency lowers the price of a country's exports, making them more attractive to international buyers by undercutting competitors.

China's economy is mainly driven by exports, so having an edge over international competition has allowed its economy to grow at an astounding rate.

Its economy is on track to grow 10.5% this year compared with 2.7% growth in the U.S. miserable, and 4.8% for the world in general.

What's wrong with that?

Several industrialized countries, including the U.S., China's explosive growth is unsustainable and bad for the world economy. They fear that their rapid inflation could ripple through the rest of the world, driving up the price of goods at a time when other economies are still struggling to get back on their feet.

The rapid growth has also led to fears that China's economy could overheat and then land in a massive slowdown accident, which makes the global recovery.

As a result, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been urging the nations of the G-20 to crack down on currency manipulation, and changing economic policies in countries with large trade surpluses to reduce dependence on exports.

How global trade imbalances affect jobs in America?

U.S. is a trade deficit - which means that imports more goods than it exports. China, meanwhile, has a trade surplus. In October, China sent $ 25 billion in goods to the U.S., but bought only $ 7 billion in return.

Maintaining U.S. manufacturers to create jobs at home - which is exactly why Obama is hoping to double U.S. exports over the next five years.

Meanwhile, the Fed is trying to promote domestic job growth through a program called "quantitative easing, announced last week.

The policy aims to reduce interest rates and stimulate consumer spending by pumping another $ 600 million in the U.S. economy through the purchase of Treasury bonds over time. In turn, the Fed expects an increase in consumption will generate growth and create more jobs in the country.

How could other countries respond to currency manipulation?

While the U.S. has undertaken not to deliberately weaken the dollar, some critics say that by printing money and flood the U.S. economy, the plan of quantitative easing by the Fed is essentially doing just that.

"It is inconsistent for the U.S. to accuse China of manipulating exchange rates and then to artificially depress the exchange rate of the dollar by printing money," said German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, the magazine Der Spiegel last week.

And other countries like Japan and Brazil had already begun to follow the example of China, attempts to devalue their currencies to maintain their competitive advantage.

These movements have raised fears of a trade war, where countries devaluing their currencies competitive start, just to keep up with others.