President Xi Jinping will visit the United States in September, partaking in a high stakes, scripted, state dinner with President Obama and other dignitaries at the White House. The Chinese leader will be in the neighborhood for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the United Nations.

The view of mainstream Americans about China is the key to formulating any US grand strategy toward Beijing. Today, while some domestic politics has negative effects, we need more dialogues to enhance transparency and control third-party factors with prudent management and precaution.

Beyond search-and-rescue cooperation and crisis management, creating hotlines between China and the 10 ASEAN countries would carry a no less important symbolism: the consensus that the South China Sea issue is not an issue between them as a whole.

Some scholars say the much-talked-about New Model of Major-Country Relationship is being discarded before it even gets off the drawing board. But at the upcoming Xi-Obama meeting, common interests will stimulate common values, and strengthen the willingness to sail in the same ship.

The Sino-American ‘Grand Consensus’ that has benefited both for more than three decades is threatened by new realities and interests in the wake of China’s rise. Both countries must seek effective cooperation, not only to realize mutual benefits, but to jointly play a leadership role for the maintenance and reform of the current international system.

The recent amnesty that freed 155 Chinese loggers might calm Beijing and Kunming, effectively easing diplomatic tension between China and Myanmar. The move could also signal, however, that when it comes to the timber trade, it is business as usual.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII proves that he is master of words that couldn’t be reduced to substance.

Shinzo Abe finally delivered his speech commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II on August 14. Though the speech did include the “four key words” – “apology”, “remorse”, “aggression” and “colonial rule”, it failed to present a correct outlook on history.

Those who have some knowledge of the Western legal system in general, and the American system in particular, can quickly tell that Beijing is using the wrong approach to repatriating its fugitives hiding in countries with which China has no extradition treaty.

Seven decades after it surrendered to the Allied Forces, it is time for Japan to re-Asianize and come into its own as a fully sovereign nation.