I travelled to Zurich, Switzerland, last month to attend the Asia Leaders Series, a forum designed to foster candid exchange between Europe and Asia, offering policymakers, economists and business leaders a trusted setting to engage seriously with global challenges.

I approached the event with modest expectations. Strategic competition between Washington and Beijing has dominated forums for years. Numerous panels have examined trade wars, export controls and military tensions. It often feels as though the arguments recycle themselves. I wondered what more could be said. Yet the discussion proved unexpectedly revealing.

One former senior diplomat challenged the mood of anxiety that often frames such debates. Today’s world, he argued, may feel chaotic, but history suggests otherwise. Periods of strain in the international order are not aberrations; they are closer to the norm. Alliances come under pressure. Rivalries intensify. The system adjusts.

He reminded those present of 1972. During the Cold War, the United States and China found a way to open dialogue despite ideological differences. What made that breakthrough possible was not trust or shared values, but a shared strategic concern: the Soviet Union.

That observation prompted a broader question: if a shared adversary once brought Washington and Beijing into alignment, what, if anything, might play a comparable role today?

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