To hear diplomats in Washington tell it these days, relations between the United States and China seem about as good as they can get. James Kelly, the US State Department's senior Asia hand, said they were 'on some fronts, the best [they] have been in years ... marked by complementary - and sometimes common - policies on a broad range of issues'.
His boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, has called them the best since Richard Nixon's Beijing visit opened the China door back in 1972.
In fact, President George W. Bush frequently met former president Jiang Zemin, and has continued the tradition with President Hu Jintao - meeting him more often than leaders from some countries considered close allies.
Yet, as always, the Sino-US relationship remains tentative, fragile and subject to breakage. That may be inevitable between two proud nations governed by contrasting systems and much mutual incomprehension; a society where the people choose their leaders and one where the leaders pick themselves will naturally have contrasting, even clashing, goals and policies.
But another complication is re-emerging, as the US moves into its presidential election year - disputes about just how America should deal with China have again become a campaign issue.
Thus, Mr Bush faces growing pressure to get tough with China on crucial economic issues that have voter appeal. The topics range from the yuan to soybeans, but have two underlying themes: China is reneging on its legal obligation to let in more American products, and it manipulates the yuan to let exports flood cheaply into the US. These transgressions, it is claimed, destroy American jobs by driving factories out of business, and explain the huge US trade deficit with China.