Competition requires guardrails, dialogue

The upcoming meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington is a critical effort to manage US-China competition. How the two nations manage their differences, avoid the Thucydides Trap and build a stable relationship can help shape the world, opening the way for greater stability, cooperation and shared prosperity.

When Trump sits down with Xi at the White House, the world will witness high-profile, leader-to-leader diplomacy. This reciprocal state visit — hot on the heels of Trump's trip to Beijing in May — reaffirms that the global geopolitical landscape is defined by the relationship between the two biggest economies.

Managing the global order requires us to be clear-eyed about the changing power dynamics. We must construct a thoughtful framework of managed competition, understanding that both nations have their own interests and strengths.

This means establishing a stable "floor" beneath the relationship, managing differences responsibly to prevent conflict, and ensuring that competition in artificial intelligence remains a driver of innovation rather than a source of geopolitical confrontation.

The logic of managed competition is not to eliminate rivalry, but to prevent rivalry from becoming self-defeating.

The US and China will continue to compete in areas such as technology and economic development, while seeking to manage strategic friction and establish boundaries around their respective core interests and security concerns. Yet neither country operates in isolation: disruptions in trade and supply chains affect businesses and consumers far beyond their borders, while instability in one region can quickly create consequences for the wider global economy.

Competition, therefore, needs boundaries, communication and mechanisms for crisis management.

The objective is not to remove every source of friction, but to ensure that competition remains within limits that both countries — and the wider world — can withstand.

We are in a prolonged strategic competition that requires guardrails and channels for dialogue. Establishing a baseline floor does not mean we will agree on values; it means finding areas of mutual interest and reducing the risk of conflict. This requires cooperation on shared global interests, including keeping the Strait of Hormuz and other critical international sea lanes open, protecting critical supply chains and avoiding military conflicts.

The central priority of the meeting should include the establishment of bilateral AI safety guardrails. Neither nation can afford a lawless digital race to the bottom.

Further, the US can take a targeted approach to rebuilding trust and cooperation with its historic allies, with whom the administration has strained relations to the breaking point.

Recent global polling from the Pew Research Center shows that in a majority of the countries surveyed, including several European Union countries, people hold a more favorable view of China than of the US. Pew found that this was the case in 27 of the 36 countries and regions surveyed in 2026.

No agreement can stand the test of time unless both sides are invested in its success. A classic measure of a successful summit is a victory for both sides.

By maintaining technological strength, promoting economic reciprocity and protecting our mutual interests, we can ensure that competition remains strategic, stable and managed.

The summit provides a stage to show that both nations can hold their ground, secure their interests, maintain their values and find peaceful and prosperous ways forward for the US, China and the world.

President Alexander Stubb of Finland clearly lays out the challenge ahead in his book The Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order, in which he advocates "values-based realism". "It is easy to list what is wrong and to concentrate on threats. It is much harder to find solutions. Pessimism leads to inaction, optimism to action, realism to solutions."

The US, China and all of humanity need solutions in an era when neither side can totally dominate the other. Both nations must remain strong and prosperous while adapting to the realities before us. The question remains: will we?

The author is a former deputy chief of staff to former Michigan governor James Blanchard and former president and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Florida.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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