What the Xi-Obama November agreements suggest is that the two leaders are able to communicate effectively on complex problems, negotiate in good faith, and reach mature understandings that serve the interests of both countries. Now, the question is, can that pattern be maintained in 2015 and beyond?

China and US should deepen their cooperation and coordination in helping other countries to find a more sustainable development model, thus showing the world that their ideological differences can be mutually complementary rather than only contradictory.

Speaking at the recent Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, Xi Jinping spelled out China’s new foreign-policy vision, which many have characterized as a diplomatic manifesto to secure the “Chinese dream”.

China’s leaders need to look hard at the “Chinese Dream” they are trying to realize for their country and decide if that dream rests more on cooperation at this critical moment with the world’s other largest economy, the United States, or on an absurd and outdated allegiance to the bizarre and historically obsolete feudal regime of the Kim family in Pyongyang.

Wu Jianmin relays his concluding remarks from the Second China-U.S. Policy Forum in Beijing on December 13th – 15th, reiterating the history of China’s opening up to the West, and more recent phases of China-U.S. cooperation. Wu believes the U.S. and China can identify convergent interests, and make the foundation of the China-U.S. relationship stronger and stronger.

Ted Carpenter argues that the contentious Taiwan issue has merely been slumbering during the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou, and it now shows signs of awakening as a part of Taiwan’s greater assertiveness toward Beijing – which also implicates the United States in their role as “protector.”

Internal causes in China are the basis of changes and developments in Asia, while external causes, such as relations with the other parts of the world, are secondary, and become operative through internal causes in Asia. Through this logic, Wu Zurong argues that the U.S. should consider its own development path before concerning itself with lost influence in Asia.

The recent landslide victory of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has obvious implications for China-U.S. relations, and for a cross-strait standoff between the countries two militaries. Washington should preempt any possible cross-strait military build-up and engage in a sincere dialogue about the democratic future of Taiwan in a “one country, two systems” solution.

China has two key challenges in the years ahead. The first is to build a new, global rules-based system with the other major world power, the United States, that supplants the post-WWII order.

Intensification of Russia-U.S. tensions since 2003 has an objective impact on America’s strategic shift east and delays the beginning of a comprehensive strategic game between China and U.S. over economic and political competition in the Pacific.