New progress in constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability evident - 2026-09-28
President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States from last Wednesday to Friday has further enriched the substance of the new positioning of China-US relations. The two sides have agreed to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity.
As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi elaborated, respect means respecting the other side's core interests and major concerns; fairness refers to pursuing mutually beneficial cooperation; reciprocity requires each side's concerns to be addressed on an equal basis.
The enrichment of the new positioning of bilateral ties is one of the eight outcomes on which the two heads of state reached consensus. These outcomes span a wide range of areas, including economy and trade, technology, people-to-people exchanges and international situations, among others.
The significance of the consensus lies in providing the two sides with a more substantive framework to manage their relations. The test is whether the framework can be translated into pragmatic arrangements.
The eight outcomes suggest an emerging architecture of engagement, some of which is built on established foundations, some newly created. The economic and trade consultation mechanism, for instance, has been endorsed alongside the establishment and development of a Board of Trade and other mechanisms.
The logic is not that trade tensions have disappeared. Rather, economic competition is being given institutional channels through which it can be managed. The US treating Chinese companies fairly and resolving difficulties through dialogue will help expand the list of cooperation while shortening the list of problems.
The same logic has been extended into fields where the consequences of rivalry could be even more far-reaching.
The two sides agreed to establish a China-US AI Dialogue, with the next exchange scheduled for November, as well as a bilateral communication channel for AI incidents. The two countries are to exchange views on AI's risks and benefits and jointly prevent its misuse and abuse. This is a notable change from treating technological competition as a matter of restriction.
Other arrangements are similarly designed to turn broad intentions into working relationships. Military communication, a proposed memorandum on crisis prevention, cooperation against transnational crime and the search for the remains of missing US service members in China all create practical reasons for officials to remain in regular contact.
There is a deeper significance to this multiplication of channels. International relationships are shaped by the institutions, routines and spaces in which people interact. A relationship often falsely portrayed as a zero-sum game can acquire a different character when its participants have more opportunities to meet each other to solve specific problems. Economic consultations, scientific exchanges, military contacts and people-to-people programs create such a network of engagement in which cooperation becomes a regular practice.
Two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, that are due to take up residency at Zoo Atlanta, arrived in the US on Sunday. They offer a reminder that bilateral relations extend beyond government-to-government relations.
China and the US are preparing to host, respectively, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and the G20 Leaders' Summit in the fourth quarter. The two sides' agreement to support each other's hosting of the meetings offers the two countries more opportunities to coordinate on global governance.
Notably, the two leaders recalled that China and the US were allies during World War II, and fought side by side to win the war. This serves as a message to any country or individual seeking to challenge the postwar international order.
The effectiveness of the follow-up on the consensus between the leaders will depend on whether teams from both sides can translate it into concrete measures in different fields. It is hoped both sides will take a responsible approach and put the essence of the principles of respect, fairness and reciprocity into practice.
As Xi said, China and the US do not need to avoid mentioning competition, but their competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds. It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses.
Source: China Daily
