China and US restore belief that they can reduce frictions

The outlook for this year once appeared bleak with the United States seeming set on a collision course with China.

Pessimistic predictions of conflict, sparked by their differences over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea to currency and trade, appeared particularly credible when weighed against the background of US President Donald Trump's tough-talking tweet storm against China and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's pre-inauguration belligerency.

But the belated phone conversation between the Chinese and US presidents was the previously missing stabilizer that restored lost confidence that the two countries could get along, and Friday's meeting between Tillerson and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bonn, Germany, struck a positive note indicating the two countries were still willing to work together to forge friendly relations.