It is vitally important for Asia, and the world, that the United States and China have a cooperative, positive relationship. As the world's two leading economies, possessors of powerful military machines that include nuclear weapons, and nations with both overlapping and distinct national interests, relations between Washington and Beijing have impacts that extend far beyond their two countries. Given rising tensions between the two governments, the trip of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. last week, featuring a state visit to Washington, took on outsized importance. It was an opportunity to address the causes of growing frictions, put a floor on relations and create a framework for stability as the U.S. descends into the chaos that inevitably accompanies a presidential election year.
Those expectations were met. In truth, however, that is not much to expect.
On one level, the visit was a resounding success. There were no surprises, no obvious gaffes or painful moments when the theater that surrounds such visits was exposed as mere decoration. (Sadly, that happens more often than it should.) For a country like China, which attaches great importance to status and symbolism, this is a critical box to check. It is vitally important to the leadership that it show the Chinese people that they are treated with dignity, respect and as a great power. A seemingly meaningless slight can swell to outsized proportions, become a blight on the relationship and require some compensatory gesture. Those were avoided.