Sino-American relations have been blown off course after the downing of a Chinese balloon.  The Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, David Rennie, and our senior China correspondent, Alice Su, explore whether China and America are heading towards a stand-off and what needs to be done to avoid any escalation. The historian John Delury unearths the roots of distrust between the two superpowers. And, Da Wei, director of Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, weighs up whether Xi Jinping and Joe Biden are serious about managing their relationship. Sign up to our weekly newsletter here and for full access to print, digital and audio editions, as well as exclusive live events, subscribe to The Economist at economist.com/drumoffer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.