My Take | US and China looking for ‘sustainable’ ways to live with each other
- A series of meetings between senior officials offer some hopes that the two sides will be able to get relations back on track
- However, much work is still needed with Beijing pushing Washington to increase people-to-people exchanges
While it is too soon to expect a full reset, the resumption of regular official talks between the rival powers offers some hope that both sides want to avoid conflict and get their deeply troubled relationship back on track.
But those meetings are far from enough to reverse the spiral of hostility and mistrust between the two countries. Backchannel diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges are also badly needed to rebuild trust at a time when the two increasingly view the other side as an existential threat.
Wang Yi pretty much said so himself during his meeting with Blinken in Munich on Friday, stressing the importance of “carrying out people-to-people and cultural exchanges” as well as “exchanges at all levels”.
It is hardly a coincidence that the Chinese ministers blamed Washington for the lack of adequate unofficial and people-to-people exchanges during talks with their US counterparts in the past week.