That might be the public facing messaging, or maybe more precisely, that's one of the connotations that USG might wish for some parts of the public to pick up, but I think we can safely say that the USG as a whole doesn't believe that since it has forbidden NASA cooperation with China since 2011.

I think the sibling comment about the physical realities of ISS, plus maybe an attempt as preserving -some sort- of carrot and some measure of "good faith" with Russia. In other words, ISS and space cooperation stands as a token of proof of "hey Russia, if you do what we want, you'll actually get benefits".