The debate over the difference between tactics and strategy is as rich as it is enduring. In his seminal 1996 article in the Harvard Business Review, Harvard’s Michael Porter tackled this issue head on. While his focus was business, his arguments can be applied much more broadly – including to today’s Sino-American rivalry.

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.

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. 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.

The U.S. and many of its allies rely heavily on the Chinese economy. Decoupling is not realistic and would only lead to long-term economic decline. On its current path — which is nothing if not clumsy — the Biden administration is only hurting the American people.

Industrial and supply chains have become the main theater of competition between China and the United States. America’s technology war will be deliberate, intense and long-term. For this reason, China must be strategically prepared for a protracted fight.

It is crucial to prepare for all-out China-U.S. competition. The country that can best demonstrate wisdom, willpower and courage will have the advantage over time, and new cooperation models may alter the trajectory of history.

Western advocates of a renewed standoff between great powers are blinded by their biases, as China’s rise goes beyond Western experience. At a time of deep economic interdependence and with weapons unimaginable in the past, who can guarantee that a confrontation would not escalate out of control?

America’s efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains may limit China’s economic options in the short term. But this is not sustainable. In the long term, the rise of the Chinese economy cannot be stopped.

It is the mission of the think tank to stay on high alert against potential risks and explore possible solutions to challenges. The international system is currently undergoing the most dramatic changes since the end of the Cold War. The peaceful and open international environment, which has been taken for granted over the last four decades, is now overshadowed by formidable challenges. In this context, it is the think tank’s responsibility to explore and identify external security risks that might pose threats to China in the months and years ahead.