This paper is part of the TESPA (Tymoshenko Extended Signal Pattern Analysis) framework, a system-level analytical architecture for organising and evolving knowledge in international studies (see TESPA Core Document, Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20024935). <br> <br> This paper analyses the United States' strategy towards China as a model of managed competition functioning as the baseline regime organising bilateral relations. Unlike other strategic directions, US-China interaction has acquired a relatively institutionalised character, allowing it to be interpreted as an institutionalised systemic regime. Within this model, competition is not a temporary phase but a permanent operational logic structuring interaction between states without escalation into open conflict. The system is shown to operate through the combination of three key components: institutionalised red lines, systemic competition, and conditional cooperation. Particular attention is given to the role of security-based containment and its instruments of implementation. It is concluded that US strategy towards China constitutes an institutionalised system of managed competition that ensures stability through balance management and the prevention of forceful revision, rather than through the elimination of rivalry itself.