Source: China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), Institute of American Studies research group | Date: May 13, 2026
Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com
In today's world, changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and international circumstances are marked by interwoven turbulence and disorder. The international community needs, more than ever before, a China-US relationship that is strategic, constructive, and stable, in order to provide the most precious stability and certainty to a turbulent world. As for the China-US relationship itself, since the process of normalization began more than half a century ago, it has weathered storms and has now entered a new phase of strategic stalemate. The two countries urgently need to explore a correct way of getting along that fits the new realities of the relationship. To this end, the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations established a research group to consider, against the backdrop of great changes in the world and the new phase of China-US relations, how to build a framework for a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability, and to push the two major powers toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
当今世界，百年变局加速演进，国际局势变乱交织。国际社会比以往任何时候都更需要一个具有战略性、建设性、稳定性的中美关系，来为动荡世界提供最宝贵的稳定性和确定性。而就中美关系自身而言，自半个多世纪前开启正常化进程以来，中美关系历经风雨，已进入一个战略相持的新阶段，两国迫切需要探索一条适应中美关系新现实的正确相处之道。为此，中国现代国际关系研究院美国研究所成立课题组，立足世界大变局和中美关系新阶段，思考如何构建中美建设性战略稳定框架，推动中美两个大国迈向相互尊重、和平共处、合作共赢。
"Strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage and control differences, expand pragmatic cooperation; do not refrain from doing good because it is small, do not commit evil because it is small; do things one by one, continuously accumulate mutual trust, find a correct way of getting along, and let 2026 be a year in which the two major countries of China and the United States move toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation."
— Xi Jinping (February 4, 2026)
"加强对话沟通，妥善管控分歧，拓展务实合作，不以善小而不为，不以恶小而为之，一件事一件事去做，不断积累互信，走出一条正确相处之道，让2026年成为中美两个大国迈向相互尊重、和平共处、合作共赢的一年"。
——习近平（2026年2月4日）
In today's world, changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and international circumstances are marked by interwoven turbulence and disorder. The international community needs, more than ever before, a China-US relationship that is strategic, constructive, and stable, in order to provide the most precious stability and certainty to a turbulent world. As for the China-US relationship itself, since the process of normalization began more than half a century ago, it has weathered storms and has now entered a new phase of strategic stalemate. The two countries urgently need to explore a correct way of getting along that fits the new realities of the relationship. To this end, the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations established a research group to consider, against the backdrop of great changes in the world and the new phase of China-US relations,how to build a framework for a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability, and to push the two major powers toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
当今世界，百年变局加速演进，国际局势变乱交织。国际社会比以往任何时候都更需要一个具有战略性、建设性、稳定性的中美关系，来为动荡世界提供最宝贵的稳定性和确定性。而就中美关系自身而言，自半个多世纪前开启正常化进程以来，中美关系历经风雨，已进入一个战略相持的新阶段，两国迫切需要探索一条适应中美关系新现实的正确相处之道。为此，中国现代国际关系研究院美国研究所成立课题组，立足世界大变局和中美关系新阶段，思考如何构建中美建设性战略稳定框架，推动中美两个大国迈向相互尊重、和平共处、合作共赢。
The great changes unseen in a century in the world are the first logical premise for our consideration of the correct way for China and the United States to get along. At present, changes in the world, changes of the era, and changes in history are unfolding in unprecedented ways. Exploring a correct way for China and the United States to get along in this new period is intrinsic to responding to the great changes unseen in a century in the world.
世界百年未有之大变局是我们思考中美正确相处之道的第一个逻辑前提。当前，世界之变、时代之变、历史之变正以前所未有的方式展开，探索新时期中美正确相处之道是因应世界百年未有之大变局的题中之义。
The first salient feature of the great changes in the world is the transformation of the international order. The current international order has entered a "period of transition between old and new" in which the old order is breaking down while a new order has not yet been established. The so-called "liberal international order" that supported the operation of the international system after the Cold War has collapsed. The American foreign-policy scholar Richard Haass has argued that one of the important reasons for the decline of the "liberal international order" is that the United States, the principal architect and defender of that order, has itself begun to turn away from the system it built. From historical experience, major transitions in the international order are often filled with conflict and even war. The most recent international order transitions were completed in the wake of great wars — for example, the "Versailles-Washington system" established after World War I and the "Yalta system" established after World War II. The transition from an old to a new order inevitably brings turbulence, which is something the international community does not wish to see. Whether China and the United States, as two major powers, can find a way to get along based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation during this period of transition is a matter that bears on human peace and the future of the world.
世界大变局的第一个突出表现是国际秩序的变迁。当前国际秩序进入一个旧秩序正在瓦解、新秩序尚未确立的"新旧转换期"。冷战后支撑国际体系运行的所谓"自由主义国际秩序"已然崩塌。美国外交学者理查德·哈斯认为，"自由主义国际秩序"走向衰落的重要原因之一是，美国这个秩序的主要创建者和维护者也开始背离其自身建立的体系。从历史经验看，国际秩序的重大转换往往充满冲突甚至战争。最近几次国际秩序的转换都是在大战之后完成的，如一战之后确立的"凡尔赛—华盛顿体系"、二战之后确立的"雅尔塔体系"等。新旧秩序的转换必然带来动荡，这是国际社会所不愿看到的。中美两个大国能否在新旧秩序转换期找到一条相互尊重、和平共处、合作共赢的相处之道，事关人类和平和世界未来。