"Issue-specific partnership, instead of alliance" may become an outstanding feature of the three countries relations in the future, but their varying relationships challenge their ability to work together to meet global problems and coordinate global governance.

China is emerging as a much stronger player in the Central Asian region, with the support of Russian resources. Central Asian states may exploit this Sino-Russian rapprochement in order to advance their own goals, receiving security and funding from Moscow and Beijing, while not being required to change political regimes.

Just as U.S. President Bill Clinton expressed to Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 1996, both countries need to rely on the common interests of combating climate change and strengthening mutual security. This can happen with improved and people-to-people interaction.

In its eagerness to reassert its supremacy in the Asia Pacific, Washington risks losing its balance amid competing strategic goals, by forcing a position that is neither fair nor legally supportable in a region far from its shores.

The U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue, the seventh of its kind, will take place soon amidst an increasing rivalry between the two countries. Ensuring stable peace and continued prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region will require both countries to replace their self-serving interpretations of the other’s strategic intentions with more sober assessments.

Win-win cooperation has replaced wars and national self-interest, and that approach will make Asia economically stronger and benefit the entire globe.

While Washington has mixed feelings toward China’s rising international status, many American scholars see no convincing reasons for the United States not to support or participate in China’s initiatives like the modern Silk Road and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. That’s a good omen for the concept of “a new type of major country relations,” as proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, to avoid confrontation between big powers and to blaze a new trail of mutually beneficial cooperation.

With good reason, Chinese leaders wonder whether the pivot to Asia is the initial stage of a containment policy directed against their country. Similarly, U.S. officials are likely to become concerned about China’s attention and investment in Latin America, not helped by suspicions about China’s intentions in the South China Sea.

The ongoing dispute threatens to drive U.S.-China relations permanently in a far more adversarial, zero-sum direction and destabilize the region.

Mutual trust is essential for candid exchanges and sincere collaboration. This is an indispensable precondition for China and the U.S. to formulate a new-type major-country relationship and take advantage of historical opportunities such as President Xi’s upcoming U.S. visit.