An intriguing opportunity to improve US/China relations presented itself this week after the Communist Party of China held its Third Plenum—a meeting of its top three or four hundred officials to discuss economic policy. The Party’s summary of the gathering acknowledged some of China’s most vexing financial problems, yet provided no meaningful detail on how it plans to address those challenges.

Thus the opportunity. The United States should quickly play on this void to praise the Communist Party’s candor and offer to provide financial assistance for China’s property sector, its over-extended municipalities, and its under-funded financial institutions. On its face this strategy of bailing out our ideological and economic rival may seem contrary to our interests. Not so, if in return we require China’s commitment to attenuate tensions in the South China Sea, including over Philippine reefs and Taiwanese islands. Such a deal should make it clear that if China backslides on those commitments, we will retract our assistance.

This approach can work now because it raises Xi Jinping’s mianzi, or face; the General Secretary is in need of a win as his country founders. At the same time it reminds the international community of US strengths in financial matters. Should the two sides find common ground here, they can tilt our world a bit more towards peace when we sorely need it.