The meeting between Xi and President Biden in San Francisco this month produced some modest gains. Most important, the two leaders agreed on new military-to-military contact that could prevent unplanned incidents at sea or in the sky from becoming fatal combat. This interaction would include discussions between defense secretaries, military chiefs and operational commanders.

Xi got to deliver a pitch for investment in China to an audience of top U.S. business leaders. Biden won a Chinese promise to curb production of precursors for the drug fentanyl. Both sides stopped trading rhetorical blows and instead spoke about greater cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

There was a little trash talk, too, as the two presidents huddled. Biden told Xi that he shouldn’t pay too much attention to public-opinion polls reporting his sagging popularity, according to one knowledgeable U.S. official, teasing the Chinese leader, “You’ll be meeting with me in five years.” Biden is also said to have warned China against interfering in next year’s presidential election.

Biden also cautioned Xi against escalating his tactics in the South China Sea, according to the knowledgeable official. A Chinese coast guard vessel collided with a Philippine supply boat last month, and Biden stressed that the United States would keep its security commitments to the Philippines, the official said.

Xi’s demeanor was calm and confident throughout the summit, the U.S. official said. Determined that the meeting go smoothly, Chinese officials bused in hundreds of flag-waving pro-China demonstrators to greet the visiting leader as he arrived at his hotel, according to the official.

The Chinese president has demonstrated his total control of Chinese politics this year. He fired Qin Gang as foreign minister after the diplomat reportedly engaged in a love affair with a prominent Chinese television journalist who sought U.S. naturalized citizenship for their child, according to the U.S. official, confirming a report in the Financial Times. Xi also dismissed Li Shangfu as defense minister and two senior generals in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force because of what the U.S. official said were allegations of corruption in military procurement.

For Xi, the clinch metaphor describes a modest tactical change in approach. China’s economy is slowing, and he needs some time to regain his balance and momentum. The United States, meanwhile, has turned out to be a stronger and more resilient competitor than Xi expected. As Xi conceded in his speech to U.S. business leaders in San Francisco, “the United States is revitalizing its economy.”

So, rather than punching itself out prematurely, China appears to be coasting for a few rounds to try to recover its strength. It wants the United States to join the pause, too. Here’s how Xi made the pitch in his speech to the business leaders: “If one sees the other side as a primary competitor … and a pacing threat, it will only lead to misinformed policymaking, misguided actions and unwanted results.”

China experts see Xi’s stance as the latest phase in Beijing’s carefully calibrated public profile. For the decades of rapid modernization under Deng Xiaoping, China’s approach was summed up in his famous phrase, “Hide your strength, bide your time.” That caution encouraged an American transfer of trade and technology that helped make China an economic superpower.

When Xi became China’s leader in 2012, he took a more aggressive approach — proclaiming China’s ambition to become a global leader. This new policy emulated “Wolf Warrior,” the title of a Chinese movie celebrating the country’s ability to project military power in Africa and other regions. Rather than “hide and bide,” the Chinese over the past decade have embraced what became known as “Wolf Warrior diplomacy” as they pressed their interests abroad.

Now, after what many analysts saw as an overly aggressive drive for power that alienated many countries in Europe and Asia, Xi might have decided on a tactical pause. A clinch, as the U.S. official says the president has termed it in internal guidance for party members, is where he holds his American opponent close.

Xi proclaimed at the San Francisco summit that “Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed.” Let’s hope so. For now, the value of the San Francisco summit was to keep the long-running U.S.-Chinese competition inside the ring — with better consultation about the rules.