Presidents Biden and Xi together have a responsibility to create a different and better future. And it’s vital they figure out how to have at least a passable working relationship before the U.S. elections are in full swing. Can either side take the initiative to warm up to the other party?

The United States has complained bitterly about the recent OPEC announcement of a cut in oil production, which was seen as providing indirect aid to Russia and as a slap in the face to U.S. President Joe Biden. But U.S. complaints have been met with a sharp backlash from Saudi Arabia as it looks eastward.

With its National Security Strategy, the Biden administration addresses the dual challenge of winning the strategic competition with major powers, while addressing matters such as climate change, pandemics and food insecurity.

When the Biden administration speaks of challenges to the liberal international order, it should be understood that U.S. anxiety over the “authoritarianism” it attributes to China and Russia is an external projection of internal domestic ideological contradictions and external troubles.

As China grows stronger, its approach to the world will naturally shift to cope with new conditions and challenges. President Xi Jinping’s report to the 20th Party Congress illuminates China’s diplomatic stance in the new era. He set the direction for China’s foreign policy development in the years ahead.

After nearly two years in office, the Biden administration recently published its National Security Strategy. The 48-page document covers the broad spectrum of national security and foreign policy challenges to the United States, prominently including the People’s Republic of China.

It’s clear that the United States is determined to win its competition with China. Therefore, China should prepare for greater pressure from the U.S. during what the newly released National Security Strategy calls the “decisive decade” ahead.

Europe has stepped up its engagement with Taiwan to a level unthinkable only a few years ago - a dynamic which is welcomed in Washington but risks triggering commercial reprisals from Beijing. If not managed carefully, such actions threaten to reduce Europe’s diplomatic leeway and ability to contribute to a peaceful solution of Cross-Strait relations. The EU should urgently set up a high-level communication channel with Beijing to complement the transatlantic dialogue on the Indo-Pacific established last year.

The nature of U.S.-China relations have become increasingly polarized since the mid-2010s. It seems like both sides sit on opposite sides of a spectrum, when in reality, both nations exert influence and control over resources and neighbors that could be organized to work well together.

There are many imperfections and contradictions in the latest NSS. It’s hard enough to promote fairness and justice in the world, so how does one balance a strategy that puts U.S. interests and the well-being of Americans ahead of everyone else?