Even more than external risks, preventing the hazards and avoiding risks at home are crucial for China’s OBOR as well as the country’s peaceful rise. From deciding how much military is enough to finding ways to excite neighbors about Chinese culture, a holistic outlook is needed, that will take time to mature as policies.

Trump should be wary of two major traps that history has set for him - the “Thucydides Trap", as well as the “Kindleberger Trap”: a China that seems too weak rather than too strong.

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the Shanghai Communique, which brought unprecedented peace and development to Asia.

President Trump, in clinging to this narrative, promises to fight a war long past with weapons that are likely to hurt his allies as much as his supposed enemy. Hardly a vision of America being made great again.

A Pangoal Institution study suggests that China's proactive rather than reactive approach in dealing with relations with the U.S. is palpable and the two sides need to enhance strategic communication and coordination.

While there are some variables in Trump diplomacy, variables do not necessarily equal uncertainties. Many of the forces affecting US diplomacy and global interactions are constant and predictable.

The new president showed that the United States would attach importance to the Asia-Pacific region, to its alliances and to deepening the relationship with the region’s major countries. His recent overtures to China, however, and his disinterest in Abe’s “values diplomacy” suggest that US policy will not always give Japan what it wants.

Despite superficial appearances and some genuine outreach between Trump and Putin, the differences between these rival countries are too complex, too deep and too historic to quickly wash away, even if such a move was in American interests.

North Korea continues to embarrass its nominal friend and ally, the People’s Republic of China. The North’s Kim Jong-un apparently ordered a hit on his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who was murdered at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia airport.

With America further withdrawing during Trump’s presidency, the Middle East will have new geopolitical landscape with new complexity. It should be clear that China’s growing economic relations with the region should benefit the region, though how soon and how much this relationship can enhance peace or stability remains to be seen.