Author name: Swapnil Bhatnagar

The high-profile diplomatic engagements between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are frequently heralded as crucial turning points capable of stabilising the world’s most critical bilateral relationship. The bilateral summits—such as the trade truce negotiated in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025, and the subsequent state visit to Beijing on May 14–15, 2026 —have been framed by official readouts as historic steps toward building “a constructive relationship of strategic stability”. These meetings, heavily promoted in Chinese media as a “historic reset”, have sought to project an image of mutual understanding, complete with public commitments on agricultural purchases and aviation deals.

The contemporary international system is undergoing a profound structural transition, characterised by the erosion of traditional multilateral institutions and an intensifying geostrategic rivalry between global superpowers. For several decades following the end of the Cold War, a Western-led multilateral order, anchored by American economic dominance and institutional power, set the rules of global trade, security, and governance. Today, however, that singular framework is fracturing into a contested, multipolar landscape. This shifting global architecture is increasingly defined by a dual-bloc friction: a rules-based West, composed of the United States and its European allies, pitted against an evolving autocratic axis led by China, Russia, and Iran.