Major international media outlets have extensively covered the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, which concluded this week in Beijing.
Citing analysts, Al Jazeera reported that early signs point to the US and China moving towards a relationship focused on pragmatic areas of common interest.
William Yang, senior Northeast Asia analyst at the International Crisis Group, was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying that Trump would likely try to compartmentalize US-China relations into areas where the two sides can cooperate without being overshadowed by geopolitical concerns.
Noting China and the US might still differ on issues including the Iran situation, Chucheng Feng, founding partner of Hutong Research based in Beijing, told the same outlet that the most important thing for Beijing is "to find a floor for the relationship, to set up and enhance guardrails so that no surprises or uncontrolled escalations suddenly emerge. For that, item-by-item disagreements are largely secondary."
Reuters also noted China's new vision for bilateral ties. Joe Mazur, geopolitics analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China, was quoted by Reuters as saying that "It's new language and I think it reflects China's desire to put more institutional guardrails around US-China relations, both competition and cooperation."
Separately, Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC, noted the shift of China-US relations. Instead of a so-called "Thucydides Trap," which assumed that rising powers and established powers were structurally destined for confrontation, the ABC reported that both Trump and Xi quietly admitted something the rest of the world has been slow to grasp: Neither of them can afford the collision.
Instead of any breakthrough trade deal or joint statement, the ABC reported that what the Xi-Trump meeting delivered may turn out to be more consequential than any of those things.
The ABC described the outcome as a public outline of a new global order in which China and the US are "not enemies, not rivals, and not partners in the warm Western sense," adding that they represent something newer and harder to define: two structurally interdependent superpowers who have decided, for now, to manage their rivalry rather than let it manage them.
Singapore-based The Straits Times reported that trade and stability in the relationship between China and the US emerged as key issues discussed by both leaders.
Noting some China watchers had expected more concrete trade deliverables, The Straits Times, cited Han Shen Lin, China managing director for The Asia Group consultancy, as saying that even if those do not materialize, the leaders' talks already amplified the perception of China as a confident peer power rather than a country under pressure.
Citing Myron Brilliant, senior counselor of DGA Group, an international consulting firm, US public broadcaster PBS News emphasized the importance of leaders' meeting in China-US relations, while cautioning that a high-level visit alone may not resolve decades-old distrust.
"It's important. Two most consequential leaders, two most consequential countries getting to talk about a wide range of issues is important and should continue throughout the year. But we're not going to measure the success of this summit just simply by these two days," Brilliant told PBS News.
Brilliant added that "We have to see what happens the day after, 100 days from now, six months from now, next year. We will see whether we make progress and whether we can really get to some of the underlying tensions in this relationship."
Noting China and the US will compete in areas including AI and technology and compete for global influence, Brilliant told PBS News that he thought both the US and China can still find limited cooperation in some areas.
"I think the two leaders have personal chemistry, but we're going to have to see really much more than just a high-level visit to really unlock some of the distrust that's been building over a long period in this relationship," Brilliant said.
(Cover via VCG)