The "shale gas revolution" of the US looks to be capable of offering many different opportunities for Washington. It will substantially lower the amount of oil that the US imports from the gulf. It may also enable the US to begin supplying cleaner LNG to China.

One of the main breakthroughs from the informal summit between the leaders of China and the US was that Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping did agree to work together on keeping North Korea in check and the Korean peninsula nuclear free, writes George Koo.

The Xi-Obama summit at Sunnylands will be a focal point for many this weekend. Although competition between the two nations interests is inevitable, cooperation, transparency and mutual reassurance may be hindrances to escalation. Points of discussion and potential understanding include, cybersecurity, North Korea, energy, strategic weapons, trade. However, each leader must maintain his state’s agenda and strategic interests as well.

Latin America is quickly emerging as an area of interest to China. Long believed to be the “backyard” of the United States, this paradigm may be changing as China’s influence and involvement with several Latin American countries grows at astonishing rates and the United States attempts to hold on to its waning influence in the region.

In the struggle for global hegemony, Asia will be a key region. The United States’ influence in the region is at a key point as China continues to rise. With the Xi-Obama summit arriving, the definition of each states’ interests by its leader will be critical in the creation of a potential new relationship between the world’s two largest powers.

Despite a strenuous past between the U.S. and China regarding North Korea, recent months have shown a change from the Chinese government. As Chinese criticism of Pyongyang has come with other pressures from China, there may be reason for U.S. leaders to be optimistic about a partnership in the issue.

As Presidents Obama and Xi prepare for their upcoming meeting in California, Ren Xiao asks whether North Korea is an asset for China or a liability and claims that this continues to pose a fundamental question for Beijing.

One of the crucial factors in defining the success of Sunnylands will be the discussion of the US pivot to Asia. The current situation and future plans of the US shift are cause for instability in the region. Positive change can only come if the US relinquishes some responsibility to China and other regional powers.

When Barack Obama and Xi Jinping meet this week for an unusual two-day summit in Rancho Mirage, California, the two presidents will lay the ground for their joint stewardship of a bilateral relationship often described as the world’s most important.

As Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping prepare for their upcoming meeting in California this week, Ian Bremmer and Jon Hunstman Jr. discuss the ways in which they must seize the opportunity to improve relations or risk seeing bilateral relations sour for the next decade.