The important waterway could be the first tile to fall in a Sino-U.S. conflict. In openly ramping up an interventionist policy and increasing its pressure on China, the United States is increasing the risk of a military confrontation.

China must study the possibilities to prevent the rebirth of the sort of chilly long-term isolation experienced by the United States and Soviet Union in the past. Above all, it should reject unhelpful ideological comparisons.

Only mechanisms that support dialogue in the face of potential confrontation will do the job. If a military conflict occurs, no matter how limited, the door to a protracted cold war will be thrown open.

Since the 1970s, the US has tread a fine line of pursuing neutrality on claims to the South China Sea. The Trump administration, however, looks set to upend that policy.

In a word, no. China has never recognized the arbitration under the UNCLOS treaty as valid. Meanwhile, the United States continues to poison relations by opposing everything China does.

Cooperating over North Korea is essential for both China and the U.S. – not just for the good of the DPRK, but for the Sino-American relationship at large.

The United States is increasing pressure on China in the South China Sea, by sending two of its largest ships into the area. Beijing has no alternative but to respond in kind.

By disrupting the world’s interconnected economic, social, and geopolitical spheres, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed just how fragile and inequitable the institutions that govern them really are. It has also highlighted how difficult it is to address systemic fragility and inequity amid escalating national-security threats.

As COVID-19 continues to stretch nations’ resources thin all over the world, South China Sea disputes continue, emboldening ASEAN to set the rules for how these disputes will be resolved.

Could the sparks of today’s Cold War with China start a conventional or nuclear war? With a militaristic American president, a looming U.S. election, and a slowing Chinese economy, the threat of war seems to be is looming.