After years of rising tension between the United States and China, there is movement towards stabilisation — with presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agreeing to reopen military communication channels, that have been closed off for more than a year.

Interviewed by ABC listen, USSC Director of Research Jared Mondschein says that military-to-military ties are important because "escalating tensions is a pathway to conflict and kinetic war, and the US wants to avoid that."

Mondschein also says that, in the face of domestic economic troubles, Xi Jinping is eager to establish economic ties and restart the once very profitable US-China economic relationship.