The upcoming Winter Olympics may have been an opportunity for the U.S. to make a friendly entrance to China - instead, the official boycott by White House representatives has made it the latest of barbed exchanges between the two powerful nations.

Playing to his domestic audience, the U.S. president must appear tough on human rights. But this has its limits. America’s half-baked Olympic boycott applies only to diplomats, not to athletes. To do more would risk domestic and international blowback.

The postwar foundation laid by the United States has been shaken, and the Western model is in trouble as never before. The primary creator of the liberal international order has unwittingly sabotaged itself.

In 2018, Steve Bannon, then-US President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, argued that the United States needed to “decouple” from China. Since then, the term has become a fixture in discussions of Sino-American relations – to the point that some, such as former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, have warned that it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. How salient is that risk today?

President Joe Biden inherited his predecessor’s strategy of great power competition, but he has now changed its style and approach. No longer is it “America alone” but a new method making better use of its values, position in global governance and strategic alliances.

The future of Sino-American relations rests with maximising the yield of what can be changed, and minimising the relevance of what can’t be changed. The multitude of differences that the U.S. and China can’t resolve must be set aside to allow for genuine change to take place.

While the United States talks about the need to prevent conflict with China, it engages purposefully in sabotage — especially regarding Taiwan and the South China Sea. While nations can design mechanisms to deal with unforeseen events, no guardrail can prevent a deliberate act.

Global leadership requires genuine followers, not propaganda. Abstract lectures on democracy don’t much interest the majority of developing countries around the globe. Democracy should aim to solve real problems not serve as pretty wrapping paper for political struggles.

President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping finally talked, but now comes the hard work of resolving differences and managing others to maintain the world’s most important bilateral relationship.

The White House plans to host a Summit for Democracy in early December - but will the global convention produce tangible actions, or is it a spectacle of diplomacy showcasing Washington’s clout?