As the People’s Liberation Army Navy prepares to join Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, Franz-Stefan Gady analyzes China’s current tensions with the United States and its recent naval exercise with Russia to predict the future of military-to-military relations.

Following this year’s Shangri-la Dialogue, Alessio Patalano examines U.S. and Japanese tensions with China, provides insight into China’s current disputes in the East and South China Seas, and recommends a policy of engagement to create a more effective security environment in East Asia.

Using the sci-fi film, Pacific Rim, as a backdrop, Zhao Weibin compares cooperation between the United States and China to that of the connection shared between the pilots of the machines designed to fight Kaijus. Weibin argues that there are many issues that China and the U.S. can work to solve mutually through RIMPAC 2014.

The U.S. indictment of five PLA officers is a fabricated story with no credible evidence to support these accusations. The reality is that the U.S. conducts cyber surveillance programs all the time around the world and yet it continues to demonize China. The indictments should be rescinded in order to build political trust in the Sino-U.S. relationship.

China supports international norms and abides by international law; however, it is also justified in advancing legitimate sovereign interests. As in the case of the US during the Cold War, when armed forces were deployed on Taiwan or when the US instituted an ADIZ, it is appropriate for China to promote international law unless sovereign interests are at stake.

China is becoming more engaged in the Middle East, but there are limits to the depth of this engagement. While trade links have deepened and investments have increased, energy resources remain the centrepiece of Chinese involvement and any official stance on the plethora of complex political issues are strongly eschewed.

This year’s “Joint Sea-2014” maritime exercise between China and Russia was noticeable in several respects. First, the drill coincided with a state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China. Second, it came at a time when other signs of deepening Sino-Russian cooperation were evident. Third, China tried to use the drills to legitimize its Air Defense Identification Zone. Finally, it failed to evoke much of a reaction from Washington.

After a brief historical characterization of the relationship between China and North Korea, Doug Bandow assesses the effect of the ouster of Jang Song-taek on the oftentimes-strained relationship between China and North Korea.

Chen Jimin uses President Obama’s West Point commencement speech to serve as the springboard for a discussion about the structural dilemmas the United States faces with regard to its foreign policy. According to Jimin, there exist four structural difficulties, and dedicates the bulk of his essay to fleshing them out.

Wang Hongyi asserts that there is an urgent need for China and the United States to coordinate on African affairs, and the trilateral cooperation has become a core issue of rapidly accelerating interactions with Africa.