Jia Min: Beijing’s new language for managing competition with the U.S.

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For years, Beijing has searched for a vocabulary that might steady China–U.S. relations. Some of its preferred formulas—a “new model of major-country relations,” “no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation,” or the idea that the Pacific is large enough for both countries—were often dismissed, misunderstood, or treated with suspicion in Washington.Only with the latest presidential meeting in Beijing does that pattern appear to have shifted, notes Jia Min, a special research fellow at the Shanghai Development Research Foundation. Washington, at least, has echoed the new formula—“a constructive relationship of strategic stability.” Beijing’s explanation of the phrase also signals a subtle shift in its own language. Competition, long favoured by Washington as the defining frame, is now acknowledged more openly, though cast as bounded, manageable, and distinct from confrontation.Jia is also cautious about the phrase “the East is rising and the West is declining.” It captured a specific moment when China’s governance model, social order, and ability to respond to external shocks appeared to show clear advantages, he explains. It was not, he stresses, a permanent verdict on Western decline. Nor does it match Beijing’s current official language, which now says that China’s national rejuvenation and America’s effort to “make America great again” can proceed in parallel, reinforce each other, and benefit the world.First published on May 21, 2026, on 底线思维, a WeChat blog under Guancha.cn, Jia’s following interview ranges widely from Trump’s visit to China an…