Was the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Washington’s response to China’s growing role on the African continent? David H. Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, explores this summit and its similarities to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

While China’s entry into Latin America continues to gain international attention, a push by Japan to increase its influence in the region is receiving far less coverage. As Eric Farnsworth explains, Japan has maintained long-term interests in the region that it is only now seeking to strengthen.

As the rivalry between the United States and China in the Asia-Pacific continues, Taiwan will play an ever-increasing role in the Obama administration’s rebalance or pivot to the region. Robert Sutter explains recent congressional interest in Taiwan and lays out three reasons why existing U.S. policies will continue.

Responding to statements made by President Barack Obama in an interview with The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, Shen Dingli examines China’s contributions to the world order the United States has established and provides two reasons why China would be hesitant to act proactively in the international system.

After being snubbed by the Obama administration and excluded from the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe traveled to China in search of much needed financial support to help restore the Zimbabwe’s crumbling infrastructure.

Can cooperation on big data technology help improve Sino-U.S. relations? Yu Xiang examines this emerging sector and describes how cooperation on this issue could reduce tensions in other areas, like cyber-espionage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming trip to New Delhi, where he will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, holds great significance for Sino-Indian relations. While tensions have been high in recent years, the progress that Modi has made since his election in May offers hope for greater stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Promoting mutual understanding should be the goal in order to build a healthy relationship among countries. This is especially true for China and the US in their efforts to build a new model of a major power relationship, writes Chen Jimin.

While the United States continues to try and resolve disputes in the South China Sea to protect the security of established sea routes and ports, China finds the situation to be stable. Dismissing any alleged tensions, China claims that it and ASEAN do not need U.S. interference to help rectify the so-called dispute.

On the chessboard of the South China Sea, spectators have turned into players and the game is expanding, writes Zhai Kun.