With Australian ties sufficiently mended for now, Chinese President Xi Jinping is turning his attention to arguably the most important relationship in the world.
The expected summit between Xi and United States President Joe Biden next week on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in San Francisco will likely feature less bonhomie and no substantive breakthroughs. But after a tension-filled year, any measure of engagement and stabilisation will be welcomed by both sides, and the world at large.
There will be many things to look past, with differences between the two countries worsening to the point of open hostility. There’s the US export controls on advanced tech and its shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon. There are disagreements ranging from the Ukraine and Israel to Taiwan and the South China Sea, just to name a few.
But Xi’s rare trip overseas — he has spent just six days outside of the country this year — comes with an unfamiliar backdrop: a US economy that has been surprisingly resilient in contrast with a struggling Chinese economy that Biden himself labelled a “ticking time bomb”.
