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| Xi-Trump meeting in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025. (Photo: Xinhua) |
On Oct. 30, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Busan, South Korea. The summit marked a pivotal point in the renewed wave of high-level engagement and represented a deliberate strategic recalibration at a critical crossroads in China-U.S. relations.After years of tariff disputes, technology controls and mounting rivalry in public discourse, the relationship has avoided derailment. Instead, both sides have sought to rebuild mutual confidence and restore a framework of managed stability through sustained top-level diplomacy.The Busan meeting again underscored the strategic steering role of head-of-state diplomacy and sent a clear signal of stability and cooperation to both countries and to the broader international community. China and the U.S. should be partners and friends. This is both a lesson from history and a requirement of the present.
Xi said that he and Trump were at the helm and must steer the ship in the right direction to ensure steady forward progress. He emphasized that China's development does not aim to challenge or replace any country but focuses on its own progress through continued reform and opening-up, expanding market opportunities and promoting common prosperity so that the benefits of growth can be shared with the world.Trump described China as a great nation and an important partner and said the two can achieve remarkable things when they work together. He also expressed hope that the relationship will take on a more positive and forward-looking aspect.It was agreed that regular communication between the two presidents would be maintained. Trump invited Xi to visit the United States and said he looks forward to visiting China early next year, providing a new anchor for stability in the period ahead.
A closer look at recent China-U.S. interactions shows that head-of-state diplomacy has played an irreplaceable role in guiding the overall direction of the relationship. Since the start of this year, high-level exchanges have gradually resumed. Economic and trade teams have maintained dialogue in Europe and Asia, while diplomatic and defense channels have gradually resumed communication.With a basic consensus already reached at the working level, the leaders' meeting served to make final decisions, set priorities and deliver clear political signals. This top-level design mechanism helps ease short-term frictions and provides a durable framework for stability. It enables both sides to sustain dialogue and cooperation in a period of rising global uncertainty.
More important, the meeting effectively managed strategic expectations. At present, the international situation is characterized by intertwining changes, rising conflicts and a sluggish global economic recovery. Against this backdrop, any positive signal from China-U.S. relations can help boost market confidence and ease regional tensions.The meeting itself served as a symbol of stability in expectations. It demonstrated that neither side intends to move toward confrontation and that both are committed to managing differences and advancing cooperation in a rational and constructive manner. Such an approach to managing competition and expanding cooperation remains the most realistic and necessary way to maintain overall stability between major countries under the current circumstances of China-U.S. relations.
Following this meeting and the planned follow-up exchanges, China-U.S. relations appear to have moved beyond their most volatile period and into a new stage of recalibration. This does not mean a return to a honeymoon. Instead, it reflects an effort to explore a new form of stability under current realities. In this process, management and stability have become key policy priorities. The rhythm of interaction has grown more predictable, with partial frictions and strategic competition coexisting.Among various areas of engagement, economic and trade cooperation has been reaffirmed as both a stabilizer and a driving force. Both sides recognize that amid rising global economic uncertainty and the accelerated restructuring of supply chains, China-U.S. economic and trade relations should serve as a stabilizing factor rather than a source of confrontation.
Yet, this recalibration does not mean that the road ahead will be smooth. The political structure within the United States will continue to interfere with the stability of bilateral relations. There remains a structural hawkishness in Washington's China policy. Congress, the military, security agencies, certain administrative departments and segments of the media and public opinion often display a reflexive toughness on China-related issues to gain political legitimacy or agenda advantages. Even when the White House and senior policymakers seek to stabilize relations, institutional inertia can still create friction across several fronts. These include visa reviews, technology export controls, corporate enforcement and the management of critical minerals and supply chains. As a result, China-U.S. relations are likely to remain generally stable but experience partial turbulence in the near term. This will require both sides to be patient, avoid misperceptions and strengthen communication mechanisms.
To ensure that the recalibration takes root, China and the United States must deliver tangible outcomes in practical areas of cooperation. The summit addressed issues such as trade, energy and people-to-people exchanges. Cooperation on artificial intelligence has clearly emerged as a direction of strategic significance for the future.With the rapid development of AI technologies, all countries see major opportunities but face potential risks. As the world's two leading economies and technology centers, China and the United States share a responsibility — and have the capacity — to shape the global framework for AI governance. The two sides can begin structured dialogue on issues including risk assessment standards, the security boundaries of military AI, model transparency and data governance. Such discussions will help lay the groundwork for a cooperative framework covering technology, security, ethics and governance.At the same time, the two countries should strengthen law enforcement coordination to prevent the misuse of AI in areas such as cybercrime, financial fraud and transnational scams. Such efforts will also help address public concerns in both societies.
In addition, China and the United States should move quickly to resume educational and research cooperation, while expanding business and local-level exchanges. These efforts will help rebuild the social foundations that support a stable and sustainable bilateral relationship.
Overall, the Busan summit not only helped stabilize China-U.S. relations at a critical juncture but also marked the beginning of a new phase characterized by cooperation as the leading principle, with managed risks and competitive boundaries. This is not a conventional warming of ties, but rather a demonstration of strategic maturity and restraint between major powers in an era of intensified rivalry.Looking ahead, China-U.S. relations are unlikely to return to the past or fall into outright confrontation. Instead, both sides will seek a new equilibrium through strategic prudence, policy resilience and sustained multichannel communication. Ultimately, how both sides turn their current consensus into sustained action and concrete results will shape the future course of their relationship.
