US-China ties need principled 'guardrails'

Editor's note: As the world's two largest economies and countries facing multiple challenges, China and the US need to strengthen cooperation, fulfill their international responsibilities, and work together to advance the world peace and development in line with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily.

The US-China relationship, the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world, stands at a delicate juncture. After two years of false starts under the Joe Biden administration, including due to a wayward balloon that blew ties off course, the two countries are finally in sight of an opportunity to begin stabilizing their rocky relationship.

Washington and Beijing must not pass up this opportunity. They must begin erecting the "guardrails" that President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping had envisaged at their meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in November 2022. For these guardrails to be durable and long-lasting though, they must abide by certain broad common understandings.