US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s landmark trip to China ended on Monday with a commitment from both countries to try to stabilise ties to prevent their intensifying rivalry from descending into conflict.

The closely watched two-day visit wrapped up with a meeting between Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told the visiting diplomat that the world needed a stable US-China relationship and that the two countries should handle ties with a sense of responsibility.

It is worth noticing that the two officials exchanged terse pleasantries in English about the US delegation’s flight over before heading into a brightly lit meeting room, with large windows looking out to a lotus pond and a large Chinese traditional ink painting on the wall.

Why lotus? Lotus in Chinese sounds like He, which means 和 peace or 合cooperation.

Peace and cooperation, this is the message dilivered from China, so ball is still in the US court to get relations on more positive track.