It's naive to think that a strained relationship means that the US has nothing to gain from continued diplomatic contact. A country has many dimensions, and the

It's naive to think that a strained relationship means that the US has nothing to gain from continued diplomatic contact. A country has many dimensions, and there are always multiple dimensions of cooperation to pursue. And even if there are no grounds on cooperation, such a situation does not obviate the benefit of good communication. Be it businesses in competition or states with rivalries, such relationships can be modeled by a game of competitive strategy. You still want the diplomatic contact to make things clear to your rival when you have committed to something, and also know when your rival has committed to something. And on many issues, a less noisy channel (good diplomatic communication) actually benefits the more powerful entity.