Head-of-state diplomacy has irreplaceable role in steering Sino-US ties toward stability: China Daily editorial

President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States from Wednesday to Friday at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. The visit, which comes 11 years after Xi's previous state visit to the US in September 2015, is of strategic significance to guide the development of the world's most important bilateral relations.

The world has undergone profound changes during the past 11 years. Yet one thing has not changed: Stability of the relations between the world's two largest economies aligns with the world's expectations for certainty and common development.

Xi's forthcoming visit presents an important opportunity for the two heads of state to maintain strategic communication, consolidate common understandings and give further substance to the vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability that they agreed on during Trump's state visit to China in May.

Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic role in the development of China-US relations. The experience of recent years has demonstrated that head-of-state diplomacy has always been able to provide valuable certainty and strategic guidance for bilateral relations at critical moments, and can be called the anchor of Sino-US ties.

Xi's visit offers another opportunity to build on this momentum. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with Trump on major issues concerning China-US relations as well as world peace and development. Such direct communication is particularly important at a time when the international environment is becoming more unpredictable.

The visit will be conducive to turning the vision of a constructive Sino-US relationship of strategic stability into a sustained pattern of interaction.

"Constructive strategic stability" should be positive stability, in which cooperation is the mainstay and the relationship becomes more resilient through exchanges and cooperation. It should be healthy stability, in which competition remains within proper limits and does not become a zero-sum contest. It should be constant stability, in which differences are manageable and bilateral relations do not become a geopolitical roller coaster. And it should be lasting stability, in which peace is foreseeable and conflict and war are unacceptable. The interaction to realize that vision requires the concrete actions of both sides.

The more uncertain the international environment becomes, the greater the need for the two sides to maintain open channels, through which disagreements can be addressed before they become miscalculations.

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, make this need particularly urgent. As two major players in AI, China and the US have a responsibility to discuss how it can be developed and used safely and responsibly.

The China-US economic and trade consultations in New York offer a concrete illustration of what dialogue can achieve. Previous consultations have already proved that generally balanced and positive outcomes can be produced. The lesson is that differences can be managed when both sides choose dialogue over assumptions, consultation over escalation and mutually beneficial outcomes over zero-sum calculations.

People-to-people exchanges are equally important. Xi's visit to the US comes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese occasion associated with reunion. The timing gives the visit an additional human dimension. Relations between major countries ultimately rest on relations between their peoples, especially the youth.

Economic cooperation is the ballast for bilateral relations. China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) is not only a development blueprint but also a potential cooperation list. China's continuing economic transformation, expansion of domestic demand, technological upgrading and opening-up create opportunities for businesses from around the world, including US companies. A constructive relationship of strategic stability should allow those opportunities to be explored.

Ultimately, the healthy and stable development of China-US relations requires correctly understanding each other's strategic intentions; firmly advancing mutually beneficial cooperation; effectively managing differences; and cultivating friendship between the two peoples.

The three China-US joint communiques have laid the political foundation for bilateral relations. The two countries' complementary economic structures provide a broad basis for win-win cooperation. Differences in various fields should serve as motives for dialogue rather than reasons for confrontation. And their shared responsibility to contribute to world peace and stability gives the relationship its broader international purpose.

Xi's visit can help consolidate the hard-won stabilizing trend in Sino-US relations. It is expected to demonstrate that both sides possess the political wisdom and willingness to ensure the healthy, stable development of ties, serving the common interests of both countries and the global community.