Though Biden and Xi’s first face-to-face meeting since Biden’s presidential term began came with offers of civility and friendship, there remains much work to be done if the U.S.-China rivalry will be toned down within Biden’s first term.

The international landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade, with emerging economies and the intertwining of the interests around the world. The United States will find it difficult to continue on the path that it has pursued since World War II.

Improved China-U.S. relations are within reach. The conciliatory statements by the two presidents, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, as they met face to face on the sidelines of the G20 summit carve out a foothold that can be strengthened and expanded.

China and ASEAN are rapidly becoming a community with a shared future of interdependence. Now at a historical starting point, they are forging new patterns to ensure that their comprehensive strategic partnership makes long-term progress.

The meeting of presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Bali may be the first step toward restoring normal bilateral ties between China and the United States. The leaders discussed their respective red lines and agreed to resume talks on several topics. But a trust deficit remains.

The warm smiles of presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden as they shook hands in Bali showed that the two countries are not intractable rivals. They may never be free of competition and struggle, but by using the meeting as a compass they can achieve good things for themselves and the world.

Since the 1970s, China and the United States have been able to carve out a strategic framework for collaboration, competition and cooperation. The result is that stability and growth have generally been guaranteed despite the periodic ups and downs. This needs to happen again.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Joseph Biden met for over three hours in Bali in advance of the G-20 Summit. The discussion was another frank exchange that aired the differences between the two sides, and it also succeeded in establishing some more regularized working level exchanges between the two governments.

With a White House and Senate held by Democrats and the House of Representatives held by Republicans, more complexity may come to China-U.S. relations. A change in House leadership may bring out the China hawks in greater numbers.

U.S.-China relations seemingly take place between two inevitable foes, descending each week over a multitude of rows ranging from economic to ideological. However, the imminent threat that each side believes the other to be is an exaggeration of manageable competition between two powerful and influential nations.