North Korea has never been an easy ally for the People’s Republic of China. With the execution of Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-un’s uncle and supposed mentor, Beijing’s uncertain clout in Pyongyang is at risk.

In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides posits that the ascension of a rising power is typically accompanied by the fall of the ruling power. However, by exploring two unprecedented realities in today’s society, Peng Guangqian lays out the argument for why the US and China can coexist.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to the Yasukuni Shrine produced a rare expression of displeasure from the US government, but the majority of US people have expressed little interest in this event, writes John Eddington.

Mr. Abe’s homage to Japan’s war dead, in the court of world public opinion, smacks of denial of his nation’s wartime aggression — and has been widely condemned. This impression only strengthens China’s hand in current disputes with Japan — and therefore also in its strategic competition with the United States, writes Sung-Yoon Lee.

Will China take a more proactive role in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue? As Dr. Jin Liangxiang explains, China remains an economic victim in the dispute and must promote reconciliation between the West and Iran.

Zhang Tuosheng lays out a path for East Asia to secure the peace and development it has enjoyed since the end of the Cold War and to consolidate and develop its nebulous security order featuring pluralism, cooperation and coexistence.

With the commanding in power of China’s new leadership in the March, China has unfolded its ambitious new diplomacy with amity, accommodation and principle, writes Shen Dingli.

On 26 December 2013, Shinzo Abe made a high-profile visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and said the visit fulfilled his long-cherished wish. The war shrine visit puts China-Japan relations in deep freeze and disturbs the geometry of power in the western Pacific, writes Liu Junhong.

Shifting the focus of domestic contradictions was also smugly calculated into Abe's decision. His shrine visit again brazenly affronted Chinese people and the people of other victimized countries and aggravated relations with Japan's neighbors, writes Li Wei.

Foreign news agencies have reported that President Barack Obama will likely nominate Senator Max Baucus to be his next envoy to China. If this is true and no change happens, it should be a positive move for the China-US relations, writes Tao Wenzhao.