Yet between 2017 and 2024, there were no high-level US-China meetings on public health. These seven years spanned the Covid-19 pandemic, when no serious dialogue occurred; instead, arrangements for cooperation on disease surveillance and response were dismantled.

This impasse harms both nations – and the world. The stakes in health security could not be higher. Covid-19 showed that a virus originating in one country can ravage economies and claim millions of lives worldwide, yet the two superpowers have grown even less cooperative in preparing for the next pandemic. Government decisions are increasingly driven by national security concerns, leading to missed chances for transparent data sharing or cooperation in drug development or manufacturing.