As the US presidential election is now in full swing, China has become a punching bag for both candidates. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are stepping up attacks on each other in their election campaigns, with China as a frequent topic.

As America’s election season nears its finish, the debate seems to have come unhinged. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fixation on China – singled out by both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

Every four years when the US has a presidential election, many people ask the same question: who is China's choice? This time is no exception. Given a choic

Americans must be careful that we do not allow China saber rattling, an expansion of their military prowess, evidenced by a testing of their first stealth jet, the construction of their first aircraft carrier and tussles over small islands in the East China Sea to draw us into an extended arms race that we can ill afford.

With the final U.S. presidential debate taking place on Monday, President Barack Obama and Republican contender Mitt Romney sparred over foreign policy—with China taking center stage. Despite Mr. Romney’s aggressive rhetoric, would the Republican prove a better choice for improved U.S.-China relations?

David Shambaugh charts the course for U.S.-China relations and writes that the global importance of US-China relations means that this is a marriage in which divorce is not an option. The stakes are high. Yet the competitive trend is likely to continue into the future—absent a newly emergent global threat that challenges both nations to forge greater cooperation.

In about two weeks, a winner will be declared in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the chosen candidate will work to form his administration. Wang Honggang writes that an understanding of how each administration would handle the next four years of the bilateral relationship with China is critically important.

When South Sudan succeeded from the North, analysts predicted a prolonged period of confrontation. However, Khartoum and Juba recently agreed to resolve several outstanding disputes, with the promise of talks in the future.

For most of its history, the relationship between China and the US has been defined by the relative asymmetry in power between the two countries. Such imbalance has given rise to complex and often contradictory views of one another between Chinese and Americans. Now however, it is possible to chart a new course forward based on mutual symmetry and respect.

In spite of the fact that China and the US have converging interests in counter-terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and Palestine-Israel peace in the Middle East, it can be noted that some of their fundamental political and security interests are different, and even conflict with each other.