When US President Joe Biden sat down with China’s Xi Jinping in Lima last Saturday, the conversation was aimed squarely at Donald Trump. Both leaders were in the business of saving what they could from the past four years. And they appeared almost resigned to the relationship being perched on the precipice.

Xi was blunt. He said America needed to “make the wise choice” in shaping its China policy. That was widely interpreted as a warning to the Trump administration to opt for the prudent over the pugnacious in how it deals with Beijing.