Burlingame, however, led the way in fostering a so-called Cooperative Policy between China and Western powers. The US would treat China in the same peaceful manner as other nations, upholding its sovereignty and territorial integrity and agreeing not to interfere in its internal affairs.

But here we are today, and coercion is once again an instrument of US policy. In the 19th century, it was guns; in the past year, it has been economic pressure.

As US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said recently of the dramatic policy shift: “I honestly believe that good people tried for 20 years a multilateral approach … You'd have to be crazy in my judgment not to try something else.”

In 1867, Burlingame took a different path of diplomacy. At the suggestion of top Chinese officials, he became China’s envoy to the US and Europe after resigning from his US post.

Burlingame was a splendid orator, and on his campaign-style tour across the US in 1868, he preached the gospel of support for China: emphasising that the cultural values of China and the West were compatible, and that America would reap vast economic rewards from being fair to China.

Arriving in Washington, he negotiated the Burlingame Treaty, which would be the first equal treaty between China and a Western nation in the modern era.

Today, although public opinion has given the Trump administration licence to pursue a radical approach towards China, we should be wary of where that mandate leads us.

The easy answer is to wish China would stop violating agreements and start engaging in fairer economic behaviour.

But we must realise that China is behaving much like the US did when it was the rising economic behemoth, appropriating the technology of more established powers while believing it is only taking its rightful place in the world.

A more sophisticated understanding of both nations' history is the key to avoiding the path of confrontation.

Today we have remarkable technology, from jet travel to the internet, which can help the two peoples understand each other in a way that was impossible in 1868.

We have yet to truly take advantage of these opportunities to build a connection, and to do so at the current crossroads may call for leaders and measures as creative as those in 1868.

At a minimum, we should be seeking agreements that bring benefits to both countries and are easily verifiable. If we can break through the distrust and reach a more harmonious modus vivendi, perhaps this time we will not repeat the undoing of Burlingame’s great work.

William Mundell is an American entrepreneur and the producer of the documentary, Better Angels, about the US-China relationship. It will open the documentary section of the Beijing film festival next week