As U.S. President Joe Biden contemplates course corrections after his first months in office, one change seems especially worthy of consideration: a shift to a more pragmatic, less ideological foreign policy.

The principle should not be used to maximize the interests of any single party. When major countries follow the principles of multilateralism, they restrain themselves from seeking their own interests at the expense of others. Instead, they consider the overall good.

Unlike Donald Trump’s brute force approach to China, President Joe Biden and his team will show more nuance, emphasizing intense long-term competition along with coexistence. The U.S. will compete, but it will weigh the costs and risks more carefully.

When it comes to participation in international organizations, the objectives of the major powers are not entirely clear. Will there be competition for influence or can China and the United States develop opportunities for cooperation? Only the latter will promote a healthy model of global governance.

The Biden administration seems to be tougher than Trump on Russia, yet Vladimir Putin seems unyielding. Clearly, the Americans must take Russia into account in dealing with China, but the U.S. and China have different mindsets, and things play out differently on each side.

Japan’s balancing act has gotten increasingly more challenging over the years. Tasked with trying to placate both China, its powerful neighbor, and the United States, its long-time ally and protector, Tokyo’s delicate balancing act is becoming ever more difficult to sustain.

The key to correcting misunderstandings is more exchanges and cooperation between provinces, states, cities, enterprises and nonprofit organizations. We should strive to understand each other’s systems and policies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s suggestion that issues in relations with China should be categorized according to their sensitivity is unrealistic. Yet progress was made at the Anchorage dialogue, including agreement that cooperation is necessary to address global challenges and that the focus ought to be on healthy competition.

In his recent address to the US Congress, President Joe Biden warned that China is deadly serious about trying to become the world’s most significant power. But Biden also declared that autocrats will not win the future; America will. If mishandled, the US-China great-power competition could be dangerous. But if the United States plays it right, the rivalry with China could be healthy.

The U.S.’s China Policy directly impacts Canada’s China Policy. And with little change in U.S.-China relations under the Biden Administration, Canada’s policy space between China and the U.S. has stayed relatively the same as well.