The doctrine of “assertive transparency” has dramatically escalated South China Sea tensions. Among other things, it has paved the way to the alignment of the U.S., Japan and Philippines in the impending April summit.

Confrontations over the South China Sea are startling events that bring up the potential for heated conflict, but disagreements in troubled waters have ripple effects that lead to economic problems as well.

The US was shocked out of its 20th century global isolationism on December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Ever since that era when a dirt-poor, war-torn China was still being derided as the “sick man of Asia”, the US has kept trying to maintain its lock on advanced technological global hegemony, doing whatever it takes to be #1, albeit with declining success.

Security threat worries are unfounded. A ban of the platform would only undermine the confidence of international investors and pose significant risks to global economic development. Investors should pay close attention to these risks when making investment decisions.

The United States and China have opened communication channels in many touchy areas. But they have yet to do so in the field of technology competition, which has risen to a level of sensitivity on par with Taiwan and the South China Sea. It is urgent for the two nations to create such a mechanism now.

As more relatively weak countries find themselves unable to stay out of the war, China must walk a careful path. It must avoid and mitigate risks, safeguard its national interests and put Ukraine on the road to peace at an early date. To this end, it needs a more flexible and pragmatic strategy.

With Vladimir Putin hinting at the possible use of nuclear weapons and Europe responding more aggressively, the prospect of victory seems to be tilting away from Ukraine. China’s diplomatic maneuvering for peace should set an example for the international community.

The latest Palestinian-Israeli conflict has lasted four and a half months since its outbreak in October and resulted in nearly 30,000 Palestinian deaths, the destruction of nearly all infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and more than 2 million people left homeless, as well as a severe shortage of food, drinking water and medicine. The humanitarian disaster is intensifying with each passing day.

The possibility of another Trump-style leader in the United States — perhaps even Donald Trump himself — has shaken Europe to its roots. Europe cannot replace American hegemony. Thus, its only course is to accelerate toward “strategic autonomy” to become less dependent on the U.S. security umbrella, which has been in place since World War II.

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently upped the ante in America’s anti-China campaign. In congressional testimony on January 31, he sounded the alarm over intensified Chinese hacking activity and warned that US infrastructure – telecommunications, energy, transportation, and water – is acutely vulnerable to the Chinese state-sponsored hacker group Volt Typhoon. Front-page coverage by the New York Times added to the sense of urgency.