As encouraging as the three-hour meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping was, it is but one stopping point in what promises to be a long and difficult road ahead for bilateral relations between the U.S. and China, especially against the backdrop of competition that characterizes the relationship.
Since taking office in May, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has sought to follow through on campaign promises to reorient the country’s foreign policy, including with the U.S., China and Japan. But if Yoon and his advisers were correct in their premises, they were naive about how this promised reorientation would work in practice.
At the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech outlining his priorities heading into his almost certain third term, including his own concept of “national rejuvenation,” which goes hand in hand with a fight against internal and external enemies, both real and conceptual.
