The United States and other nuclear powers are part of the problem. But they can also be part of the solution. The existing nuclear order isn’t perfect, but no country can afford to let it fall apart. Now is the time to act.

Both countries know that confrontation only leads to a dead end in the long run. A mix of cooperation and competition remains the norm that has worked for both countries in the past. But it’s difficult to strike a balance, and competition is likely to overwhelm cooperation, as it always has.

The Trump administration has begun applying military pressure on China, not only in traditional areas of friction such as the South China Sea and Taiwan, but using arms control. Recent American withdrawal from the US-Russia INF Treaty may be part of a strategy to draw China into a potential new nuclear agreement.

China should participate in official discussions regarding its nuclear employment and targeting doctrines and, like Russia and the United States, make public the number of China’s nuclear warheads and delivery systems.

The liberal international order is not falling apart. However, one must also ask what exactly the “liberal international order” is.

From the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, the United States has insisted on developing a national missile defense system and seceded fr