Messaging Guidance:

U.S.-China Diplomacy Protects American Interests

September 2023

America’s relationship with China is one of the most consequential in the world. An effective China strategy requires boosting our competitive edge at home and strengthening our alliances and partnerships abroad. It also requires clear-eyed diplomacy to secure our interests, to decrease the likelihood that misunderstanding leads to crisis, and to preserve space to work together on shared interests. Dialogue with competitors is essential to safeguarding American interests.

We cannot let critics play politics with this important lifeline. This messaging document outlines affirmative arguments about the benefits and need for robust and effective diplomacy.

Key Messages

Diplomacy Is A Fundamental Foreign Policy Tool

• Diplomacy is a vital element of managing the world’s most important relationships. Diplomacy is not a give-away, but an essential tool to tackle the hardest issues we face.

• The U.S. has decades of experience talking to — and even working with — competitors and rivals when our interests call for it, including agreements with Russia on nuclear arms control that averted catastrophe for decades.

• Only after the dire Cuban missile crisis did the U.S. and Soviet Union formalize agreements to scale back the dangers of nuclear weapons. With China, we must maintain direct communication channels and strong guardrails before reaching the brink of another serious crisis.

• Engaging and deterring the Chinese government is not an either-or approach. In fact, effective deterrence often requires direct communication about potential costs and repercussions in order to avoid misinterpretations or missteps.

Abandoning Diplomacy Hurts U.S. Interests

• During moments of peak tension, direct communication is the bare minimum to lower the risk of misunderstanding and dangerous escalation. Regular communication provides the opportunity to be clear with the Chinese government about U.S. positions and interests.

• Politicians who drum up hostility toward China to score easy political points do nothing to address this critical foreign policy issue or to improve the lives and security of Americans. In fact, by denouncing diplomacy, they tie our hands and undermine the core tools we have to promote U.S. interests.

• Letting disagreements between the U.S. and China fester and escalate is not a strategy for success. Disputes are resolved through savvy negotiation, not political posturing.

• The U.S. must demonstrate global leadership and take proactive steps to address concerns before they snowball into irreversible crises. Waiting until our relationship is on life support is too late to prevent disastrous consequences for Americans and the world.

Key Quotes

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

• “Direct engagement and sustained communication at senior levels is the best way to responsibly manage our differences and ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.” (June 2023)

• “The United States has a long history of successfully managing complicated, consequential relationships through diplomacy.  It’s the responsibility of both countries to find a path forward – and it’s in both our interests, and the interests of the world, that we do so.” (June 2023)

• “We can’t let the disagreements that divide us stop us from moving forward on the priorities that demand that we work together, for the good of our people and for the good of the world.” (May 2022)

• “There’s no reason why our great nations cannot coexist peacefully…and contribute to human progress together. That’s what everything I’ve said today boils down to: advancing human progress, leaving to our children a world that’s more peaceful, more prosperous, and more free.” (May 2022)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

• “President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict — we believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive.” (July 2023)

• “Even where we don’t see eye-to-eye, I believe there is clear value in the frank and in-depth discussions we had on the opportunities and challenges in our relationship, and the better understanding it gave us of each country’s actions and intentions.” (July 2023)

• “We discussed areas where we can work together on global challenges – from tackling the climate crisis to addressing sovereign debt sustainability. This is not a bilateral issue between China and the United States. It is about responsible global leadership. The world deserves and expects its two largest economies to work together on these global problems and help find solutions.” (July 2023)

Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs

• “Intense competition requires intense diplomacy if we’re going to manage tensions. That is the only way to clear up misperceptions…to communicate and to work together where and when our interests align.” (June 2023)

• “We have an interest in setting up crisis communication mechanisms to reduce conflict risk. The world expects us to work together on climate, health security, global macroeconomic stability, and other challenges.” (June 2023)

Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee

• “As Republicans criticize our chief diplomat for engaging in diplomacy with China, they are simultaneously tying our hands behind our back in the strategic competition with China…Within a week of House Republicans holding a hearing on countering the Belt and Road Initiative, they also unveiled a budget proposal that, rather than turning up the pressure on China, would effectively roll out the red carpet for the BRI around the world. The measure proposed a steep cut—30 percent—to our State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs budget.” (June 2023)

• “Communication—along with robust funding and support for the United States’ most crucial levers of soft power—is essential if we are to prevent an avoidable and devastating great-power war, which is a goal we should all share and work to promote.” (June 2023)

Representative Andy Kim (D-NJ)

• “I've seen way too many circumstances in my time in national security where just an incident or an accident or a misunderstanding can completely flare up and get out of control.” (June 2023)

Articles for Amplification

• Washington and Beijing are talking again. Good. (Washington Post Editorial Board)

• Anti-China Rhetoric Distracts Washington—and Boosts Beijing (Rep. Gregory Meeks in Foreign Policy)

• Some see the U.S.-China rivalry as an 'existential struggle.' Rep. Andy Kim disagrees (NPR)

• How to Avoid a War with China (New York Times)

• Biden’s course correction on China is smart and important (Washington Post)

• The U.S. and China are rivals — but can talk like adults (Washington Post)

External Validators

• Former Secretary of State George Shultz: “Even our adversaries will have to regain the trust that we can work together to manage global threats to humanity’s very existence even when we disagree on other issues.” (Foreign Service Journal)

• Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis: “If you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.” (Washington Post)

U.S.-China Diplomacy During Trump Administration

• Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Beijing in March 2017 and described the U.S.-China relationship as one “built on nonconfrontation, no conflict, mutual respect, and always searching for win-win solutions.”

• Former President Trump hosted Xi Jinping in April 2017 at Mar-a-Lago and touted “tremendous progress,” a deeper understanding, and more trust-building. 

• Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described the relationship as “hitting a new high” in May 2017 after unveiling an agreement to expand trade of beef, poultry, electronic payments, and more.