Despite the president’s focus on the American future, his calls to reform the political, economic and social system domestically and to build a strong network of allies and partners to address potential threats internationally could easily be thwarted by partisan politics.

— “Doubling Down? China and International Order(s)” (By Fu Ying, Munich Security Conference 2016, 13 February 2016) As the Chinese year of Monkey has just a

The official American statement on adhering to one-China principle and hope for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits helped mitigate suspicions in China and further testified to the US strategic plan to compete with China mainly in the economic field. This will help the two countries to sustain competitive cooperation and for China to readjust and reform its domestic policies.

Many “realist” scholars make predictions about China based on what the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, which assumes the two cases are similar in more ways than are warranted. An enormous amount of cultural capital remains untapped for its potential in collective identity construction. Success in constructing a new Asian identity will not only strengthen cooperation in the short run, but also weaken the appeal of military contestation over time.

The US will not change its Janus-faced policy of engagement and containment. But the fundamentals that buoy steadily developing China-US ties will not change, because they embody the fundamental needs of the development of both countries, and the trend of world history.

China now provides half of Pakistan’s military hardware and has demonstrated willingness to transfer technology to Pakistan. As geo-political alignments are changing, the mutuality of interests is drawing China and Pakistan closer.

In face of the historic opportunity offered by a changing international order, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the idea of developing ‘major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics’ to guide Chinese diplomacy in this age of big changes.

As large parts of Asia celebrate the arrival of the Lunar New Year on February 8th, it’s in with the Year of the Monkey. But before the Year of the Sheep fully recedes into memory, we take our annual look back at the people and events that made headlines across Asia—for good and for bad.

President Xi Jinping’s latest trip to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt point to the broader Chinese ambitions in the Middle East, a region where political turmoil and Russia’s military intervention in Syria are already altering the delicate balance of power. Only sustained pressure can persuade Beijing that its future lies in cooperation and not confrontation.

The China Dream and the China Model are complementary in Xi’s strategic vision, of which relations with the developing world are a central part. Developments in the Middle East and Africa show how large a factor China now is in economic globalization, but while the China Model is based on noninterference in politics, Mel Gurtov argues that separating economics from politics is a challenge.