Since the talks between the top leaders of the two countries in San Francisco in November, relations between China and the United States have pulled up from their nose dive and steadied, albeit at a low level.

That the flurry of exchanges that arose from the talks has continued into the new year affords some optimism, if slight, that the elevation may be raised in the coming months.

The 17th China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks were held in Washington on Monday and Tuesday, the first since they were suspended in August 2022 after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in her position as speaker of the House of Representatives. This was the second military communication between China and the United States in a month.

In late December,?General Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of China's Central Military Commission's Joint Staff Department, talked with General Charles Brown Jr, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, via video link, following the consensus reached at the summit on resuming military exchanges.

Given that the US has been constantly provoking Beijing with its antics in the South China Sea and in relation to Taiwan in a bid to exert strategic pressure on China, smooth communication between the two militaries is essential if the two countries are to avoid a misjudgment.

To a large extent, it is because of its misperception of China and its fixation on the Thucydides trap that the US is trying by hook or by crook to contain China's rise and development.

A speech delivered by Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, at the New York-based think tank the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, provides the US some clarity on China that if duly considered can dispel some of the misunderstandings it has of the country.

"China does not seek to change the current international order, much less reinvent the wheel by creating a new international order," Liu said.

Stressing that China seeks to uphold the international order underpinned by international law, he said that China is one of the builders of the current world order and is a beneficiary of it.

Anyone familiar with China's diplomatic practice will know Liu's remarks are an explicit response to the US' unjustified accusation that China poses a threat to the rules-based international order. He was reaffirming that China has no desire to challenge US supremacy, let alone replace it.

But Beijing does share many developing countries' desire for a global governance system that is more equitable and just. One does not need to demolish the entire structure, however, to refurbish a house.

As long as the US does not let its provocations get out of hand, and the two countries make sustained efforts to build on the momentum generated at the San Francisco summit, China-US relations can continue to gradually improve.