“The two countries should be partners rather than adversaries,” the People’s Daily newspaper said in a commentary published on Tuesday. “China and the US should cooperate to benefit each other rather than engaging in a zero-sum rivalry.”

The newspaper added that Beijing hopes relations will “stabilise and improve” rather than slide into “conflict and confrontation”.

President Xi Jinping’s government has engaged in a flurry of diplomacy with US officials in recent months, raising expectations that the Chinese leader will meet his US counterpart next month. President Joe Biden has sent at least four cabinet-level officials to Beijing since June, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met the US leader in Washington last week. 

Read more: US-China Ties Quietly Mending Even as Global Turmoil Surges

US and Chinese officials have agreed in principle to a leaders’ meeting in November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, according to an American official. China has yet to confirm who will attend the event.

Wang warned in Washington the road to any Xi-Biden sit down would not be smooth, and the two countries should not rely on “autopilot”. Beijing and Washington remain at loggerheads over issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea. A top Chinese military official accused the US of meddling in other countries’ affairs at a major defence forum in Beijing this week.

The People’s Daily commentary said progress in the relationship was in the whole world’s interest, and blamed the turbulence of recent years on US misconceptions about China, labelling such thinking as a “Cold War” mentality.