China’s ties with the two US allies continue to evolve, as Beijing develops new consensus with Seoul but finds accommodation with Tokyo more challenging. Domestic politics in the US and Japan may cast a shadow on future progress in China’s bilateral relations with both South Korea and Japan.

Skeptics of land reforms throughout the world fear that land redistribution in developing states may further victimize those who are already more disadvantaged and marginalized. And recent unrests in Kazakhstan due to Chinese investors demonstrate such concerns, highlighting land reform to be a complicated process with the potential of igniting social movements and mass mobilizations.

On October 1, the Chinese renminbi officially becomes the fifth international reserve currency. Until recently, Washington played geopolitics to defer the renminbi’s internationalization. But what about Wall Street?

Prime Minister Trudeau must introduce greater balance into Canada’s international trade profile in order to diversify from an overwhelming reliance on the United States and towards a bilateral relationship that will ensure trade growth with China, Canada’s second largest trade partner.

The TPP is an important piece of Obama’s strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific region, and also one of the most important political legacies he’s tried to build before leaving the White House. Any delay in approving the TPP will deal a heavy blow to the US rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, but faced with the political reality of the US elections, a rethink will be in order.

The missions of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is to help companies create U.S. jobs by exporting U.S. goods and services to emerging economies. As China’s installed power capacity is expected to grow over the next century, members from China’s State Grid visited a factory in South Dakota to upgrade its tools used to maintain power grids around the country.

Wang Jianlin’s intemperate attack on Disneyland earlier this year is out of key with the generally genial image he has cultivated in the media. To date, he has steered clear of the third rail of politics, seemingly content to make money and influence people in the economic realm.

China plays a central role in driving global economic recovery and growth, and hosting the recent meetings showed the country’s potential to lead with new ideas. With the progress of China’s grand rejuvenation, China will be able to contribute more with Chinese wisdom, solutions and power to global economic development.

Despite the election-year rhetoric in the US, free-trade has been good for both countries and their people, and China and the US should both fight protectionism and support less-restricted trade to lead the global economy back to a path of strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

Despite all the hand-wringing over the vaunted China slowdown, the Chinese economy remains the single largest contributor to world GDP growth. For a global economy limping along at stall speed – and most likely unable to withstand a significant shock without toppling into renewed recession – that contribution is all the more important.