US-China relations: Still looking for the adults in the room

AFTER four years of nationalist rhetoric coming out of the White House and the absence of a coherent foreign policy, America's allies have welcomed the election of President Joe Biden.

Predecessor Donald Trump and many of his aides had no diplomatic experience or understanding of the current global complexities - or, as pundits used to put it when discussing the goings-on at the White House: "Where are the adults in the room?"

Well, the adults are back. President Biden entered office after more than four decades of engagement in foreign policy, including as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a US vice-president who had spent many hours meeting world leaders, including China's Xi Jinping. Mr Biden has brought with him some of the best and brightest minds in foreign policy, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Asia experts Kurt Campbell and Eli Ratner.