Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will meet with two top Chinese officials in Washington on Friday. But the meeting won’t produce any significant dividends for the United States.

On paper, things look more positive. Coming off the back of months of escalating tensions, President Xi Jinping’s decision to deploy his top foreign policy adviser, Yang Jiechi, and his defense minister, Wei Fenghe, suggests interest in rapprochement. Certainly, Yang and Wei are power players. Yang is the architect of Xi’s grand effort to displace the American-led international order, and Wei is behind Xi’s effort to decay America’s security umbrella in the Indo-Pacific. But Yang is a particularly skilled political operator; astute both to U.S. domestic politics and Washington’s policy development. Sending these two operators to Washington, Xi thus uses the pretense of an olive branch in order to gauge Trump’s determination to continue his showdown with Beijing. It is notable here that the Chinese have not sent their foreign minister, Wang Yi. Although his position would suggest diplomatic acumen, Wang lacks Yang’s charm and Wei’s military relevance. He is known to annoy America and its allies.