Appearances by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference highlighted competition over the future international order, according to CNN analysis.
Their interventions came as Washington's relations with European allies faced strain.
Minutes after Rubio told the conference that the United States and Europe belonged together, Wang presented his own proposition.
“China and the EU are partners, not rivals,” he said.
He argued that the international system's problems were not primarily the UN's fault, but stemmed from certain countries magnifying differences, putting their own country first, pursuing confrontation between blocs and reviving Cold War thinking.
CNN's analysis placed the two speeches against a backdrop of US foreign-policy changes unsettling traditional alliances, with European officials openly discussing the end of an era of American security guarantees.
Reassuring Europe
Rubio sought to reassure European leaders that Trump's administration remained committed to the transatlantic alliance.
He nevertheless said Europeans needed to assume greater responsibility and that the international system required rebuilding.
Wang urged Europe to reject unilateral practices, protect free trade and oppose bloc politics, in an indirect criticism of US policy.
Balancing US–China relations
Beijing also wants stable relations with Washington ahead of a possible Trump visit to China later in the spring.
Such a meeting could consolidate the relative stability established after the leaders' previous encounter.
Wang expressed confidence in the relationship's prospects but said two different paths were possible.
Cooperation could follow if Washington understood China rationally. Confrontation could arise if the United States pursued decoupling and crossed red lines, including Taiwan.
Answering questions, Rubio said it would be a geopolitical mistake for the two largest powers not to communicate and manage their differences.
Will Europe listen?
CNN identifies the key question as whether Europe is willing to hear China's overture.
Beijing has long promoted an international order less dependent on US alliances and more favourable to its own interests, viewing Europe as a potentially independent centre of power.
European concerns nevertheless remain substantial: the trade deficit with China, dependence on Chinese supply chains, Beijing's support for Russia during the Ukraine war, and military activity in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
Conference organisers' description of the US-led post-war order as being dismantled reflected the uncertainty.
Despite the relief prompted by Rubio's speech, Trump's recent Greenland statements continued to trouble European capitals.
China is seeking to use any opening in the transatlantic relationship to present itself as a steady force for peace and a reliable source of stability.
