At the recent summit between US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping, China’s primary objective was to prevent tensions from escalating further. From that perspective, it was largely successful.
The most important outcome was a joint commitment to build a “constructive China–US relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity”. The challenge now is to agree on what that means.
The Trump administration interpreted the phrase as a possible opening for trilateral arms-control talks involving the US, Russia, and China. But China appears far less enthusiastic about that prospect.
What both sides seem to agree on is that regular leader-level communication is the only dependable safeguard against accidental escalation.
