US and China are both vying for global power but must engage, says ambassador

Nicholas Burns, US ambassador to China, speaking at the Brookings Institution about US-China relations (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

The US-China relationship will be defined by strategic competition in the coming decades but must involve engagement when the interests of the two countries align, the US ambassador to China has said.

Nicholas Burns’ comments come one month after US President Joe Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping to stabilise fraught relations.