Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not relevant, you still have to file and can deduct your foreign paid taxes in any event. The tax treaty becomes relevant when you are working in the states on behalf of your foreign employer (china and USA really needs a better tax treaty).
This really depends on the particular tax treaty. Do you have to file taxes? Most likely yes. Do you have to deduct taxes? This depends: Some tax treaties specify that you only have to pay the "difference" in taxes, i.e., by deducting the taxes that you paid to the other country. Some other tax treaties specify that only one country is allowed to tax a particular type of income. In my particular case (foreign citizen…
Tax treaties only handle who you pay when payment is ambiguous; e.g. If I work for Microsoft china and go on a business trip to Seattle, I'm liable for taxes by both china and the USA (I.e. Double taxation) because the tax treaty is crappy. They are meant to normalize tax policies between two countries, they have nothing to do with tax avoidance (well avoiding double taxation is a goal).