A series of episodes in recent years – including Russia’s cyber interventions to skew the United States’ 2016 presidential election toward Donald Trump, the anonymous cyber-attacks that disrupted Ukraine’s electricity system in 2015, and the “Stuxnet” virus that destroyed a thousand Iranian centrifuges – has fueled growing concern about conflict in cyberspace.

A new crisis is brewing on the Korean Peninsula. In mid-February, North Korea conducted an intermediate-range ballistic missile test. On March 1, the United States and South Korea began a joint military exercise that is unprecedented in scale and intensity.

The nation’s military spending is lower than the world’s average, and far below the US defense budget. China has no appetite for external expansion for an arms race, but for the sake of its own safety, it should properly increase the spending on defense as the national economy grows.

Despite China’s economic slowdown, the Chinese government has plans under its "Made in China 2025" program to spend $300 billion by 2025 to become self-sufficient in critical technologies and strategic emerging industries. U.S. unease at the size and opaqueness of China’s large military buildup are well-known. The latest developments will likely lead the Trump administration to continue efforts to reduce Russian defense technology transfers to China, sustain the EU arms embargo on China, and make U.S. weapons and other U.S. exports more competitive in global markets.

Physically, THAAD serves as an Iron Curtain to intercept incoming missiles from North Korea. Separate national security interests have supplanted Cold War ideology, but THAAD could influence competing alliances and block cooperation among the countries involved in the “Six Party Talks.”

The sea issue is a stumbling block in China-US relations, but it’s not clear that the new president sees it as more important that the RMB exchange rate or other issues in the bilateral relationship. In that case, “freedom of navigation” there could be used by Trump as a bargaining chip in negotiations about issues that concern him more.

Despite three major obstacles -- U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, close-in reconnaissance and discriminatory laws – a review of China-US military contacts in 2016 suggests that the armed forces of both countries are determined to sustain a relationship despite recurring tensions. Promoted by top-level policies, the two sides should maintain close communication, increase practical cooperation, and manage differences and contradictions.

The Trump administration has been surprisingly brusque with demands that NATO allies meet their financial defense targets quickly. However, the US push for more military spending by European allies is less about European security than about freeing up more of Washington’s own resources to deal with issues in Asia.

Different from the earlier narrative that China was free-riding from U.S. war efforts in Afghanistan, more recent developments have focused on China’s expanding political involvement, deepening security ties, and economic investments in Afghanistan. However, the description of China as the largest, and potentially, the most influential player in Afghanistan is misleading.

Sending the first US aircraft-carrier combat group to patrol the South China Sea since the Philippines arbitration has unsettled the region. The US military should promote new trust-building with its Chinese counterpart, and the administration can ease tensions with a clear statement on sovereignty over South China Sea features.