Whenever the topic of China comes up for discussion, President Joe Biden’s administration has a talking point waiting in its back pocket: While the U.S. and China are global competitors, Washington seeks to ensure that relations are managed responsibly so “competition doesn’t veer into conflict.” U.S. officials, from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have used this phrase so often that it has become a predictable tagline at news briefings and public events on U.S.-China policy.
Yet even talking points ring true once in a while. The very real sentiment across the U.S. national security apparatus is that ties with China, the world’s second-largest economy and second-largest military spender, are in a delicate state and need to be handled with the utmost care. Key to this objective is face-to-face communication with the Chinese officials who actually matter.
Not so long ago, getting high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials on the phone was about as difficult as getting out of Chicago in Friday afternoon traffic. Beijing, irate about then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 trip to Taiwan, cut off most senior- and working-level communication with Washington on areas as diverse as maritime safety, defense and narcotics. Then came the 2023 “balloon-gate” episode, in which a large Chinese surveillance balloon meandered over the continental United States, creating a media frenzy that ended only after Biden ordered an F-22 fighter jet to shoot it down. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attempted to resurrect talks with his Chinese counterpart months later but got nothing more than a cursory handshake.
The frostiness, however, has melted as of late. Both sides seem to have concluded that icing each other out hasn’t done their respective strategies any good. The change of heart isn’t about making nice with the other side as much as it is about minimizing any disagreements that exist—and there are a boatload of them—and finding areas on the margins where both countries can explore common ground.
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