Sound and fury: China and the US talking

IT IS an axiom of our anxious, poly-crisis times that politics now matter more to business than ever. Yet the well-known Shakespearean quote also warns us to be watchful of “sound and fury, signifying nothing”. There continue to be political events that occupy attention and yet may lead to nothing of consequence for business.

Efforts by the US and China to restart dialogue might remind us of that quote. Recent visits to Beijing are of high profile and much headlined. Yet substance seems scant.

Something is better than nothing

Communication between the world’s two greatest powers and largest economies had all but ceased after February, when the US decided to shoot down an alleged spy balloon and cancel a planned visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.