> the U.S. thrust upon every country that wished to return to the gold standard (and what respectable country would not?) an agonizing dilemma
What about the silver standard that was used in previous centuries? Oh, the West spent it all buying spices from China. They tried getting it back by getting the Chinese addicted to opium and selling them that, but that didn't last long. So change the rules: use gold instead of silver as the standard! Until the 1970's anyway when the standard had changed to uranium.
The majority of valuable Chinese coin was minted in silver (with some attempts at paper money as well.) The west, especially Spain after its conquest of the New World, transferred silver directly to China en masse in exchange for consumable goods. Gold had very little value in China in comparison, and as I understand was used in more artisanal ways than silver would be.
What about the silver standard that was used in previous centuries? Oh, the West spent it all buying spices from China. They tried getting it back by getting the Chinese addicted to opium and selling them that, but that didn't last long. So change the rules: use gold instead of silver as the standard! Until the 1970's anyway when the standard had changed to uranium.