America’s China Policy Is Not Working

The Sino-American relationship has worsened considerably in recent years.

Relations between China and the United States have soured. In the past, despite differing geopolitical and national security aims, the two nations cooperated. But the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated mutual distrust and recrimination. The Chinese economy has trebled since the mid-2000s, when the nation turned inward and shunned competition from abroad. At the same time, the United States’ China policy has grown hostile. National security has become the overriding issue between the two countries, affecting shared technological innovation and job creation.

A distrustful China and an increasingly wary United States worsen global tensions. Any effort at mutual cooperation seems secondary to unbridled self-interest. While many countries ...