CGTN Poll: The new positioning of China-US relations injects stable expectations into a turbulent world

Editor's note: Li Haidong is a professor at the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In a meeting closely watched by the world, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on Thursday agreed on a new vision of building a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability. 

The "constructive strategic stability" should be a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences, and an enduring stability with promises of peace.

A survey conducted by CGTN found that 87% of respondents believe the China-US relationship should be about mutual success and shared prosperity, rather than a zero-sum, win-lose game; and 71.6% point out that this stability provides a sustained source of predictable assurance for a turbulent world and is a vital prerequisite for lasting global stability. These findings reflect the shared expectations and broad consensus of the international community, and recalibrating the bilateral relationship is a due responsibility of major powers.

The "four pillars of stability" mean that the China-US relationship must strengthen cooperation and increase positive factors across all domains; they also make clear that competition must not slide into conflict, and differences must be channeled into institutionalized communication, thus laying a solid foundation for the steady and sustained development of the relationship. This positioning is both realistic and timely, serving as an important guarantee for a healthy, cooperative and sustainable China-US relationship with a promising future.

Stabilizing the China-US relationship must be underpinned by cooperation as the main theme. 

In today's volatile and intertwined world, the two countries share broad common interests and vast space for cooperation. Both are part of the "global village," with deeply integrated economies and closely linked industrial and supply chains, generating endogenous momentum for mutual economic success. 

Global challenges are becoming increasingly severe, with issues such as climate change, cross-border drug trafficking, public health crises and nuclear proliferation severely threatening human health and the Earth's ecology. 

Resolving these issues requires close cooperation between China and the United States. The essence of the China-US relationship is mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. Defining the relationship by cooperation rather than competition will benefit both sides and the international community at large. Building a partnership instead of an adversarial relationship, and "lengthening the list of cooperation while shortening the list of problems," is the right way for China and the US to coexist healthily.

Competition does exist between China and the US, but it must be kept within bounds for the relationship to be stable. 

The US has a persistent tendency to approach the relationship with zero-sum logic and to characterize China as a competitor – a deep-seated misperception of its strategic outlook on China. Its pursuit of absolute superiority and its relentless, reckless policies toward China on tariffs, technology, geopolitics and other fronts have led to major fluctuations in the bilateral relationship and exacerbated its own domestic and external difficulties. 

As two nuclear-armed major powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, any vicious competition between them would inevitably cause irreparable disasters for the global economy and security landscape. It is a responsible approach to the world for both sides to embrace the concept of healthy competition, ensuring that competition drives mutual progress rather than a descent into the abyss.

Differences exist between China and the US on major issues of concern to each side. Timely and proper management and resolution of these differences – rather than allowing them to deepen – is an urgent need for stabilizing the relationship.

In the economic and trade domain, if the high tariffs imposed by the US on China are allowed to run rampant, they will inevitably undermine the common economic foundation that underpins the stability of China-US relations. 

Acting out of a sense of responsibility to the peoples of both nations, the economic and trade teams of China and the US have held seven rounds of formal consultations over the past year, ensuring that the function of economic and trade ties as a stabilizer and adhesive in the relationship remains unchanged. 

This sets a vivid example for handling differences between the two sides. As long as both sides maintain sincerity in managing differences, the process of resolving them will naturally yield outcomes that enhance cooperation.

A peaceful relationship is the only path to lasting stability, and this is especially true for China-US relations. 

Respecting each other's core interests is essential to building a peaceful bilateral relationship. On the Taiwan question, China stress that it concerns its core interests. The one-China principle is a universal consensus of the international community and a basic norm of international relations that must not be undermined. 

The separatist forces advocating "Taiwan independence" seek to exploit China-US tensions to achieve their ambitions. Only by halting arms sales to Taiwan and clearly opposing "Taiwan independence" can the US send an unmistakable signal to those separatist forces, ensuring the stability and durability of a peaceful China-US relationship.

In the coming period, the most important task in international relations is for China and the US to find the right way to get along. The vision of building a "constructive and strategic stable relationship" points in the right direction – it is both a lesson from history and a necessity of the present.