（Source：Global Times，2025-09-17）

Chad Sbragia, former deputy assistant secretary of defense of US（right)，poses for a photo with Wu Xinbo, Dean and professor of the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University (center) during the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum on September 17, 2025, in Beijing. Photo: Wang Qi/GT

Conversations and dialogue are the right way for the two powers to engage, Chad Sbragia, former deputy assistant secretary of defense of US, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the ongoing 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum held in China's capital.

Sbragia, who is currently a Research Staff Member with the Institute of International Studies, made the remarks when asked about the recent China-US trade talks in Madrid.

The Chinese and US delegations engaged in candid, in-depth and constructive communication on economic and trade issues of mutual concern, including TikTok, a senior Chinese official said in Madrid on Monday.

As a US representative in the Beijing Xiangshan Forum this year, Sbragia participated as an interviewee in the High-end Interview that themed "The right way for major countries to get along" on Wednesday morning. The session also featured Wu Xinbo, Dean and professor of the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University.

"I do think that both sides have an interest in talking to each other," Sbragia told the Global Times, adding "That's a good sign."

"I think what you'll see is a recognition of the prioritization of the stable relationship over these other issue areas. And only once you can do that, can you have a relationship that actually kind of gets out for problems," the former Pentagon officer told the Global Times.

"Some of these problems are just not solvable very easily, right? That's the recognition of, if you don't manage these things properly, they become chronic sources of crisis and potentially conflict," he added.

I think it's very clear that both sides see that the consequences of getting this wrong are becoming so significant that you have to think about them differently, he said.

At Wednesday's Xiangshan Forum session, Wu Xinbo said that both the Biden and Trump administrations tried to compete with China and even to contain China, the only difference is that "they use different instruments."

The US realized that China does not yield easily… So that is why US policy shifted from "fight-to-fight" to the second stage of "fight-and-talk," according to Wu, "That means from coercing approach to more trade-off approach. And somehow China shaped the US approach to China through pushing back in a very resolute way."