It’s been a good week for the Biden administration’s diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific. As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares for his visit to Washington, officials in both countries indicated that they have reached important agreements on deepening cooperation. Meantime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing was a solid though limited success. Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that high-level U.S.-China discussions are back on track and that China shares the Biden administration’s interest in stabilizing the relationship between the world’s two leading powers.
While Mr. Xi’s decision to re-engage with the U.S. doesn’t mean he is abandoning his long-term goal of reasserting Chinese primacy in the region and beyond, it is significant. Mr. Blinken hasn’t backed away from such Biden administration policies as imposing controls over tech exports and outbound investment or strengthening defense ties with countries in China’s front yard. Mr. Xi’s meeting with Mr. Blinken indicates that the Communist Party is reluctantly accepting the new status quo rather than freezing relations and confronting the U.S. at every turn to force the Biden administration to change course.