President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit to Washington, DC, last week has shown that China’s new concept of establishing a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability has wings to fly far.
The concept – an expression of China’s foreign policy realism which has been developed with the assistance of leading Chinese think tanks over the past few years, such as Fudan University’s Center for American Studies and Tsinghua University’s Institute of International Relations – serves as an alternative to zero-sum strategic competition between China and the US and avoids the “Thucydides Trap” by setting up constructive guardrails.
A zero-sum strategy refers to a scenario where one party’s gain is equal to another party’s loss.
The Thucydides Trap is a theory stating that when an emerging power threatens to displace an established one, structural stress makes major war highly likely – if not inevitable.
Both of these are anything but constructive.
According to an opinion article published by the English-language Global Times¹ on the eve of Xi’s arrival in Washington, DC, on Wednesday last week, Xi and Trump agreed during their meeting in Beijing in May this year on a new positioning for bilateral relations aimed at building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability (建设性战略稳定).
The article, bylined Guo Jiping, lists four stabilities as the concept’s core pillars – “positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, healthy stability with competition with proper limits, constant stability with manageable differences, and lasting stability with expectable peace”. Realistically enough, Guo wrote that the concept was “providing strategic guidance for the [China-US] bilateral ties over the next three years and beyond”.
I agree with the realistic timeline – political science, like science in general, is a process. Science is a process because reality is a process – everything is in flux. That’s also in line with ancient Chinese philosophy. For instance, in Taoist philosophy, reality is not viewed as a collection of static objects, but as a dynamic process of transformation known as Hua (化).
Moreover, viewing both reality and science as dynamic processes rather than static states is the foundational core of Marxist philosophy, known as Dialectical Materialism.
In Marxism, reality is fundamentally matter in constant motion, and science is the process through which human knowledge evolves to grasp those changing dynamics.
I opted for this philosophical diversion because I am convinced that, ultimately, philosophy is the foundation for sound politics.
An alternative translation of the concept’s four pillars that I came across when preparing this editorial about the constructive strategic stability theory was “positive stability (cooperation as mainstay), healthy stability (restrained competition), normal stability (manageable differences) and constant stability (predictable peace)”.
Both translations, I think, come close to the gist of the concept’s four main foundations.
I believe that the concept explores the right way for major powers, not just China and the US, to coexist peacefully for the foreseeable future.
The commentary published by Global Times, a compilation of an article published by the Chinese-language People’s Daily last Tuesday, concludes that “China stands ready to work with the US to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state [in Beijing in May 2026], steering the constructive relationship of strategic stability forward on a steady and sustained course, and continuously injecting stability and positive energy into a transforming and volatile world”.
Addressing a state dinner held by Trump at the White House on the second day of his visit, Xi pointed out that during their meeting in Beijing in May this year, “We agreed to build a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability”. In less than half a year, both heads of state met again, this time in the US capital, and they are slated to meet for the third and fourth time this year at this year’s APEC summit in Shenzhen next month and the G20 summit in Miami.
In his speech², Xi underlined that he and Trump “had sincere and in-depth exchanges and reached common understanding on many issues. This has added new substance to the constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability, and provided new strategic guidance for China-US relations”.
Xi’s fruitful meetings with Trump in Beijing in May and Washington, DC, last week show that countries with starkly different political and economic systems, as well as heads of state that are rather dissimilar in their personality traits, can, nevertheless, work together for the good of their respective peoples and, as is the case as far as China and the US are concerned, for the benefit of world peace and global development.
After all, both countries together represent around one-fifth of the global population, an eighth of the world’s total landmass and, in nominal terms, about 43 percent of global wealth and economic output.
Global stability depends, to a large extent, on constructive strategic stability between Beijing and Washington. Without political stability, our troubled planet would find it even more difficult than it already is to tackle issues such as poverty alleviation, climate risks, military conflict caused by wilfully or carelessly ignoring others’ legitimate security interests, and the unintended (or not), unforeseen, and unforeseeable consequences of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi told Trump during their exchange of views at the White House that while China and the United States compete in AI, “they have even more reasons to cooperate”. Xi said that the two countries, both being at the forefront of AI development, “should leverage respective strengths in AI rather than guarding against each other”. He also said that “the two sides can continue to engage in dialogue on AI, exchange views on the risks and benefits, and work together to prevent the misuse and abuse of AI.”
Considering that my previous editorial3 was headlined “AI – A great tool for journalism, but only with a human in the loop”, Xi spoke straight from my heart when he told Trump that “the two sides should maintain human control over AI technologies, uphold a people-centred approach and the principle of using AI for good, and ensure that AI serves human progress”.
Earlier, when addressing an arrival ceremony at the White House, Xi also noted that “the two countries have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people”.
As I wrote in my previous editorial, AI may be humanity’s greatest invention, just as electricity was its greatest discovery. Of course, it is not just another tool that we humans invented, because it is both generative and agentic: AI’s complementary dimensions – the first describes what it can create, and the other how it can act.
Concerns have, quite understandably, been raised by a wide range of commentators about AI’s perceived risks, but genuine worries are, rather worryingly, being overshadowed by doomsday peddlers and conspiracy theorists claiming that AI could cause human extinction by around 2030.
I agree with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who told CBS earlier this month that “2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that’s going to be the end of the world”. He was quick to add that “scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible”. It certainly is. Taipei-born Huang attended last week’s state dinner at the White House, alongside other prominent technology executives and was seated at the head table which included, of course, Xi and Trump.
I suspect some of this abstruse baloney is just sour grapes from folks who got fired or walked away from their highly-paid AI jobs.
I am optimistic that AI can help our brains to tackle many issues that we have been grappling with for aeons, such as cancer and other dreadful diseases. I also believe that AI can assist humanity in dealing with extreme weather and climate issues much more efficiently than just a decade ago.
On the AI front, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday in Beijing, decidedly diplomatically, that China respects the US choice on what term to use for AI.
On what term to use for artificial intelligence (AI), China attaches importance to the position of the US side and respects their choice of the term, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson made the remarks when answering questions regarding the use of “Super Intelligence” rather than “artificial intelligence” in the US readout on the outcomes of Xi’s just-concluded state visit. Trump has officially renamed AI to “Super Intelligence”.
Xi’s Wednesday-to-Friday visit reached eight “deliverables and understandings”, according to a foreign ministry statement on Saturday.
For good reason, the first of the eight points underlined that “the two sides agree to build ‘a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity’.”
The other points pointed out (2) that both countries will support each other in successfully hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen next month and the G20 Summit in Miami in December, and that Xi and Trump will attend each other’s meetings.
They also agreed (3) that Iran should honour its commitment to not developing nuclear weapons, “and no country or institution can be allowed to impose tolls on international waterways”.
Both presidents (4) recalled that China and the US were allies in World War II and fought side by side to win the war.
Xi and Trump (5) “recognise the positive role of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism, endorse the outcomes of the consultations between the two economic and trade teams, including establishing and taking forward the Board of Trade and other mechanisms, reaching an arrangement for a US$30 billion reciprocal tariff reduction, and the extension of the outcomes of economic and trade consultations in Kuala Lumpur, and give instructions that they be implemented”.
The two sides noted (6) that cooperation between the counter-narcotics and law enforcement agencies of China and the US has produced visible outcomes.
Of global importance is, I believe, that Xi and Trump agreed (7) on the establishment of the China-US AI Dialogue to exchange views on risks and benefits related to AI. “The next exchange will occur next month. China and the US also agree to establish a bilateral communication channel for AI incidents”.
Last but not least, the United States welcomed (8) the imminent arrival of two giant pandas, leased by China to Zoo Atlanta.
Less than two days after Xi concluded his visit to Washington, DC, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang landed in Atlanta on Sunday. Well, China’s adorable bear diplomats are priceless in cuteness.
Summarising Xi’s visit, accomplished Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement on Friday that the important political outcome of the trip is that Xi and Trump “further enriched the substance of the new positioning of China-US relations and have agreed to build a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity”.
It is my long-held view that a constructive, strategic, and stable China-US relationship is not just a bilateral matter; it is a global desideratum. I am happy to note that, after prolonged turbulence in China-US ties over recent years, both presidents succeeded last week in setting bilateral relations on a much steadier course, based on the concept of a constructive relationship grounded in strategic stability.
The whole world would benefit from a concept that has taken flight and expanded its reach.
– Harald Brüning
1 Steering constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability forward on steady, sustained course – Commentary by Guo Jiping https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202609/1371138.shtml
2 Full text: Xi’s remarks at state dinner held by Trump at the White House https://www.macaupostdaily.com/news/29501
3 Editorial: AI – A great tool for journalism, but only with a human in the loop https://www.macaupostdaily.com/news/29224
