Experts stress need to repair China-US ties

The year 2022 turned out to be more eventful than ever for China-US relations, which experts believe are in a "dangerous downward spiral", with trust dipping still lower, making it imperative for both countries to implement the consensus reached by their presidents at their first in-person summit.

It started with Washington's diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games in early February, a move that Beijing said was "politicizing sports". Then there was the rollout by the US of a China policy in May and a national security strategy in October that singled out China as "America's most consequential geopolitical challenge" to "outcompete".

While the United States has been tightening export controls on technology trade or passing legislation targeting China throughout the year, the most explosive event came in August, when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew to Taiwan despite strong opposition from China, which warned that her "provocative move "would escalate tension across the Taiwan Straits and in bilateral relations.

The troubled relationship started to show signs of recovery on Nov 14, when President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met face to face in Bali, Indonesia, providing strategic guidance for steering bilateral relations back to a healthy and stable track.

But whether relations improve in 2023 and beyond will depend on how the two sides translate the presidential consensus into practical policies and concrete action, and how Washington will reckon with a "China threat" that experts believe has been "overblown" for US domestic needs.

On Friday, days before the end of 2022, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is scheduled to visit China shortly, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi again urged the US to stop "containing and suppressing "China's development, a call that he had made on various occasions throughout the year.