Responsibly managing US-China competition requires interest-based guardrails

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible visit to Taiwan is increasing U.S.-China tensions and could lead to the next Taiwan Strait crisis. Should a crisis occur, responsibly managing the Sino-American relationship will be essential to prevent an escalatory spiral and conflict. So far, Washington has failed to establish guardrails to do this. Since fall 2021, U.S. officials at the highest levels have unsuccessfully discussed guardrails with their Chinese counterparts. During their most recent call, President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping continued to sidestep establishing effective guardrails. At the next meeting, Biden should negotiate with Xi to agree to interest-based guardrails to mitigate the risk of war.

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