It is encouraging to see that high-level channels of communication between China and the United States have been reactivated despite the frictional differences that exist between them.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council Senior Director for China Affairs Laura Rosenberger visited Beijing on Sunday and Monday. They will also visit the Republic of Korea and Japan during a four-day Asian trip.
That the senior US officials' visit to China comes shortly after an in-depth and candid meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia, last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit, indicates that respective diplomatic teams are wasting no time in implementing the consensus reached between the two leaders, which provides guidance for the future development of bilateral relations.
At their meeting, Xi told Biden that China and the US share many common interests, and it is in both sides' fundamental interest to try to prevent conflict and confrontation and achieve peaceful coexistence.
The visit by Kritenbrink and Rosenberger can certainly help to serve that purpose, as face-to-face consultations between the two countries' decisionmakers will help to dispel misunderstandings and misconceptions, and create opportunities for them to deal with issues of mutual concern and explore areas of cooperation.
Their visit will reportedly also prepare for the trip of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to China early next year.
As the world's two largest economies and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the US and China share the common responsibility to maintain a constructive bilateral relationship. That's not only because the unprecedented challenges the world now faces such as climate change will by no means be adequately addressed without their close collaboration, but also because the ramifications from any confrontation or conflict between them go far beyond their borders. The US-initiated trade war and technology war against China, for example, have hurt international trade and disrupted global industry and supply chains.
China has repeatedly stressed that it does not seek to change the existing international order, and has no intention to challenge or displace the US. For China and the US to get along with each other and bring bilateral ties back to the track of healthy and stable development, the US also must respect China's core interests, and honor its commitments with concrete actions when handling its relationship with China.
Hopefully, the visits to China by senior US officials will help turn a new page in China-US interactions, as both countries will be better served by dialogue and win-win cooperation, rather than zero-sum competition or confrontation.