The West’s dominating influence around the world has come under heavy scrutiny as open conflicts rage on in Europe and the Middle East. Does this year’s BRICS Summit, hosted in Russia, represent an inflection point in the global community’s tolerance for U.S.-led order?

Talking, even through hard times, is not only necessary but also meaningful, because the audience is wider than just the two participants. People are listening at the bilateral, regional and global levels.

Six new members joined the group in the first expansion since 2010. The new alignment shows the desire of intermediate countries to play a bigger role in international affairs in a great awakening of international political awareness.

Boundaries have always been a core element in international politics. The United States has extended its Monroe Doctrine from the dominance of its own hemisphere to the world at large, so it’s hard to say exactly what the boundaries of NATO will look like in the future. But we know it will be expanding.

Redefining trade and economic relationships to achieve balance and prevent excessive dependence in strategic sectors has emerged as a key protectionist policy and geopolitical tool among major global powers. And while policies like dumping, dual circulation, security and development, or decoupling and de-risking, all share a common objective, each major power must determine its own mechanisms for course correction.

Adjustments in European and American strategies may offer hope for a return to normal relations with China. The EU and U.S. should dump their political prejudices against China, take care of the common security of the world, try to remove risks and truly cooperate with China.

Hiroshima highlighted the decline of Western influence in global economic governance. The group’s inherent inadequacy arises from the desperate effort by a small group of member nations to maintain their dominant position in the world.

Tensions between China and the West are being reinforced as assumptions about economic cooperation give way to national security rhetoric. Broad decoupling would be too difficult and costly for the West, while selectively reducing dependence on China in critical areas is seen as a more achievable goal.

President Joe Biden has expressed optimism about the U.S.-China relationship. But regardless of whether his positive outlook is warranted, disengagement is “not the way out.” Washington and Beijing must find a new way to get along.

The summit did not alter the overall direction of the United States or its core group of allies. U.S.-led competition with China only entered a new phase. America’s objectives have not changed, although it now sees the need to make adjustments.