The rocky relationship between the US and China, as seen from the Rockies

Relations between Beijing and Washington a dominant topic at geopolitical summit in Aspen, Colorado

The welcome sign at Aspen Meadows Resort where the Aspen Security Forum takes place. All photos: Willy Lowry / The National

Bell Mountain as seen from the Aspen city centre

A restaurant patio at the Aspen Meadows Resort

A scenic trail at the Aspen Meadows Resort

An outdoor seating area at Aspen Meadows Resort

The Google Pavilion, where those attending the conference gather

Washington and Beijing's fraught relationship took centre stage at the Aspen Security Forum this week.

The annual event in the ritzy Rocky Mountains ski town brings international diplomacy and security experts to the meticulously manicured grounds of the Aspen Meadows Resort.

It is a place designed to foster thought and conversations, where analysts, leaders and journalists can rub shoulders and discuss some of the leading challenges facing the planet.

Smaller and more intimate than other global conferences I’ve covered, the forum allows participants to strike up unexpected conversations with some of the most influential people in the world.

I chatted about the local bears – Aspen is home to a lot of them – with the British Foreign Secretary and about the spectacular scenery with Kenya’s national security adviser.

Bear sightings are common in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. AFP

Dignitaries, normally flanked by hordes of bulky bodyguards, freely roam the lush campus, creating a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere despite the challenging topics under discussion.

In her opening remarks, the forum's executive director Anja Manuel said the goal was “to step back a little bit and to think bigger and to exercise our imaginations”.

In 2023, that means analysing the fragile relationship between the US and China.

“We're meeting here at a pretty dangerous time for foreign policy, when war between great powers seems dangerously real and possible,” Ms Manuel said.

“In fact, great powers are acting badly and by that, I mean really Russia and China.”

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of US-China diplomatic activity, with back-to-back trips to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and most recently by climate envoy John Kerry.

The trips have helped reset relations after they were blown off course when the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon, but have yielded few results other than the promise of future diplomatic discussions.

In a conversation at the forum, Mr Blinken said navigating the US-China relationship was “the challenge of our time”.

He called it the “most consequential, and probably the most complicated, relationship” that the US must manage.

The Chinese ambassador to Washington said at the summit that relations between the two are “facing serious difficulties”.

Xie Feng, who was named to the post in May, criticised America's competitive approach to Beijing but added that China would not shy away from it.

“Let us reverse this zero-sum game and turn it into a win-win game,” Mr Xie told a packed crowd, eager to hear Beijing's perspective.

US sailors recover debris from a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon after it was shot down in February off South Carolina. Photo: US Navy

The amount of oxygen – which is already pretty thin at nearly 2,500 metres above sea level – taken up by China conversations reveals how seriously officials and analysts are scrutinising the Asian giant.

Perceived threats from China became a topic of conversation on panels that seemingly had nothing to do with Beijing, like the discussion with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on America’s broken education system.

“There is the China challenge in the way that there has not been an external challenge of that kind for a long time,” Ms Rice said as she explained why America needs to improve its education system.

It is clear that the US today views its standing as the leading global superpower to be in jeopardy, though few are willing to admit that openly.

The problem with the China obsession, and it really is just that, is that it comes at the expense of other parts of the world.

Over the course of the forum, there was only one panel on the Middle East and an insightful conversation between CNN’s Fareed Zakaria and Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.

In a way, this mirrors President Joe Biden and his administration’s approach to the Middle East, which critics allege has been too removed.

I fear that may be unlikely to change anytime soon.