Despite the well-wishing from South Korea and China to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Beijing’s intensifying rivalry with the U.S. looks set to fundamentally limit those ties going forward.

On Wednesday evening, leaders Yoon Suk-yeol and Xi Jinping marked the occasion by exchanging letters expressing their desires for “new directions of cooperation” and a “substantive friendship.”

This reflects the hope for a relationship that has evolved quite significantly over the past few decades: According to datafrom the Korea International Trade Association published just this week, South Korea’s exports to China are a mammoth 160 times greater than