Reciprocal steps

But if strategic competition were put aside, a number of reciprocal steps could be taken, including establishing a careful definition of national security accepted by both countries so that job-creating investments and exports can continue to flow, narrowly limiting visa denials and assuring the Chinese do the same, according to Orlins.

Orlins was not alone in railing against what he branded as "unnecessary strategic competition" between Washington and Beijing at a time when the pandemic crisis is still raging.

Instead of "great power competition", Frank L. Smith III, director of the Cyber & Innovation Policy Institute at the US Naval War College, said success in combating the global threat of the novel coronavirus depends on a "great-power concert".

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in commenting on the newly unveiled US strategic approach to China on Friday, said China-US relations are now at a critical juncture. It urged the US side to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias" and view China and China-US relations in an "objective and rational" way.

Days before the release of the US policy report, Robert B. Zoellick, former US trade representative and deputy secretary of state, said proponents of heightening the conflict with China understate the diplomatic successes of recent years.

In an op-ed article titled The US Doesn't Need a New Cold War, Zoellick said the "New Cold Warriors" can't contain China, given its ties throughout the world. "The US can impose costs on China, but to what end, and at what price to Americans?" he wrote in The Wall Street Journal on May 18.

Zoellick, also a former World Bank president, said it is "flat wrong" to suggest that working with China has not served US interests, adding that "self-deception will lead to dangerous diplomacy".