The China-US reconciliation at the Osaka G20 Summit grants opportunities for a new trade deal to stabilize the global economy. However, if protectionism, populism, and international tensions go unchecked, the summit’s benefits are likely to be short-lived.

Though Osaka provided a signal of some hope for future China-US negotiations, reality indicates that negotiators have several thorny issues to confront before reaching the light at the end of the tunnel: normalized trade relations.

Although denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains a priority for China, the US, Russia, and both Koreas, there remain significant gaps to address before the diplomatic process can be successful.

As a country with long diplomatic experience with the US and a rare close relationship with the DPRK, China is uniquely suited to help the two countries come to the table and bridge their massive differences. As an “external think tank,” China can use its expertise to help break rigid perceptions on both sides and usher in a new era of productive diplomatic, and perhaps even economic, relations.

President Trump and President Jinping’s Osaka meeting marks a chance to reboot China-US relations. The two leaders would be wise to capitalize on new and promising opportunities for cooperation over competition.

Tensions between the U.S. and China in the lead up to the G20 summit in Osaka was nothing new, but what is new in this decade is the development of a working relationship between the Chinese and Japanese governments.

In a deliberate attempt to stave off a diplomatic crisis with Beijing, President Duterte contradicted Filipino defense and military officials and downplayed the collision of a Chinese vessel into a Filipino fishing boat as a maritime accident rather than a direct attack. Most Filipino officials see this incident as jut the latest of China’s attempts to maneuver for control of the South China Sea.

US President Donald Trump has been accused of weaponizing economic globalization. Sanctions, tariffs, and the restriction of access to dollars have been major instruments of his foreign policy, and he has been unconstrained by allies, institutions, or rules in using them.

Though the G20 Osaka summit began in an environment of great uncertainty, the strides made during the global summit reinforced key dynamics for promoting cooperation among heterogenous countries. By centering the voices of developing economies, focusing on infrastructure development, expanding sustainable development goals, and promoting reform to the World Trade Organization, the summit has signaled support for future globalization based on mutual cooperation and multilateralism.

With relations normalizing between China and Japan, it is critical to focus on the two countries’ mutual defense and security concerns. There are several measures both countries can take — including reinstating regular security consultations, coordinating defense communication mechanisms, and cooperating on crisis management and prevention — in order to instate basic safeguards for the region.