As Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a state visit, two of the world's most consequential powers sit across from one another at a table where the weight of trade, technology, and Taiwan presses down on every word. China enters these talks with patience as a strategic asset — its economy diversified, its technological ambitions advancing, its diplomatic reach widened — while the United States navigates the harder posture of a nation managing urgency on multiple fronts at once. The visit is itself a kind of answer to a question both sides have been quietly asking: whether dialogue remains pos