China and the United States are showing early signs of rapprochement on major strategic issues, offering hope for positive movement in the future. But a gap remains between the Biden administration’s rhetoric and its deeds. Practical action to fulfill policy commitments is a crucial first step toward trust.

The deepened military relations between China and Russia was inevitable in response to challenges from the West. Conflict does not arise simply over current security considerations. It may be triggered by concerns over the changing international balance of power.

China has no motive to engage in ideological competition or confrontation with the United States. Its defense of its own ideological foundation is a natural response to U.S. rhetoric. The so-called ideological competition is nothing but an American fabrication.

Weaponized interdependence, through which powerful states leverage their position in the global network to achieve strategic goals, is increasingly relevant in the U.S.-China relationship. The U.S. uses its market power and network of alliances to exclude adversaries from the global dollar-dominated system, but this approach has also accelerated the process of global multipolarity and created opportunities for other countries to create alternative ecosystems.

Any easing of China-U.S. relations will have twists and turns, and material improvement is unlikely to come soon. But both sides can learn from America’s Cold War standoff with the USSR, when mechanisms were built that avoided war. That process can be followed again.

The U.S. and China’s growing rivalry was bound to affect global relationships on multiple levels. Already having established the AUKUS program, the U.S. is also pursuing an adjacent Japan-Philippine-U.S. alliance which will add another security barrier in the Pacific, a difficult fence to raise in a region where many countries rely heavily on China for trade.

The U.S. Intelligence Community’s hyping the notion of an alleged China threat will continue to promote negative perceptions within American society. It caters to the mentality of some special interests that stand to gain from China-U.S. competition.

Hardline anti-China stances have been one of the few unifying platforms in a fractured U.S. Congress. By allowing anti-Chinese policy to be institutionalized in its halls, the U.S. government suggests that cooperation with China is out of the question. But as a country, it’s essential we’re able to find a path forward toward durable coexistence and prevent conflict from occurring.

The hype over a separation of China and the United States is rooted in a new cold war mentality. But Premier Li Qiang said the two can and must cooperate. There is much they can achieve by working together, while encirclement and suppression is in no one’s interest.

A more assertive Congress is moving steadily against China. Various factions seek to out-tough each other to gain public support, oblivious to the economic toll. Deviation from free market rules means higher costs for U.S. businesses and damage to U.S. industry.