Can US and China avoid ‘dangerous levels of tension’?

The United States could help stabilise relations with Beijing by scaling back its military activities in the South China Sea and restraining Taiwan, a think tank has suggested.

Researchers from the Rand Corporation argued that stabilising the ongoing US-China rivalry was “not only possible but can serve the interests of both sides”.

Although they said that the two countries were “very far from even conceptualising how their rivalry could end or be transcended”, they emphasised the need to look for ways to live with each other despite their deep-seated differences.

“The United States must take steps to head off the most dangerous Chinese ambitions and safeguard US interests,” Michael Mazarr, Amanda Kerrigan and Benjamin Lenain wrote in the report published on Tuesday.

“Even as it does so, however, the United States must, as it did during the Cold War, also seek to keep the rivalry from descending into extreme and dangerous levels of tension.”

The report argued that some of the comments by China’s leaders were “not as extreme” as they had been portrayed, adding that there was an “opening” for coexistence but “the challenge … is whether it can be leveraged”.