Editor's note: Anthony Moretti is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership of Robert Morris University. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is due in the city of Tianjin on Sunday for a two-day visit to China.

We can hope Sherman's substance and style differ from that of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chose to lambast Chinese officials at the beginning of high-level talks between the two nations a few months ago in Anchorage, Alaska. 

Those meetings marked the first time officials from the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had met with their Chinese counterparts. Even though John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, visited Shanghai in April, no significant bilateral talks have taken place since the uncomfortable encounter in Alaska, and that means there is legitimate interest in what will Sherman says and does.

All of us should accept that diplomacy means being direct and making your nation's political positions clear. But being frank and being rude are not the same thing, and Secretary Blinken crossed the line in his opening remarks in Alaska. 

None of this is what diplomacy is supposed to be. Again, yes, confidently and truthfully represent your country's principles but do so in a way that respects the men and women on the other side of the table.

Instead of representing a return to normalcy (however flawed normalcy might be), his comments seemed like they had been written by his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who saw no reason ever to like or trust China. 

Sherman's visit to China comes at the end of a weeklong trip to Japan, South Korea and Mongolia. Recognizing that little substantive news has resulted from these conversations with various leaders, we can presume she did not violate any diplomatic norms. She must do the same in Tianjin. 

The U.S. State Department is doing its part to tamp down expectations for Deputy Secretary Sherman's planned meetings with China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and others. In a rather bland press release, the department noted: "These discussions are part of ongoing U.S. efforts to hold candid exchanges with the People's Republic of China (PRC) officials to advance U.S. interests and values and to responsibly manage the relationship. The Deputy Secretary will discuss areas where we have serious concerns about PRC actions, as well as areas where our interests align."

Unfortunately, it is getting ever more difficult to find areas in which the U.S. wants to find an alignment of interests with China. Both sides appear to want to work together to address climate change, but after that? Not much. 

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offers a blunt, but honest, assessment of the current state of China-U.S. relations: " China-U.S. strategic competition is giving way to a kind of 'managed enmity' that is disrupting the world and forestalling the prospect of transnational responses to transnational threats." 

In layman's terms, that means there are a whole lot of problems around the world that require U.S. and Chinese cooperation in order to find solutions. And right now, nothing is being done to address them.

As a result, perhaps the best thing that can be said about Deputy Secretary Sherman's talks with Chinese officials is that they are actually happening. That is a rather low bar for success, and a disappointing way to describe what is likely to take place in Tianjin. Yes, it is better that U.S. and Chinese officials sit across from each other and start to work together. However, the world needs – and perhaps demands is the better word – leadership from both countries. Maybe, just maybe, we will all be surprised and the message that follows is that more talks – with better defined goals – quickly will follow.

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