The US and China tip-toed around each other at high-level talks in Beijing yesterday, going out of their way to avoid open disagreements on North Korea, exchange rates and other thorny issues that divide them.
After a period at the start of the year when relations appeared to be deteriorating rapidly, raising the possibility of a trade war, both governments were at pains to strike a conciliatory note in their public comments, even though there were few signs of progress on any of the big subjects.
The annual meeting, which began focusing on economic issues but which the Obama administration broadened to include security, is essentially a Washington-led effort to engage more with the Chinese government and to enlist its support in managing global issues, although China is less defensive these days than it used to be at such meetings and also brings its own wish-list.