The National Security Strategy Reports outlined the U.S. interests in the world, and was more cautious than the 2010 report in addressing sensitive topics for China, stressing that cooperation is beneficial for its national security. The U.S. still views China as a rival, though, and should keep with the global trend of common interest rather than zero-sum.

Rather than focusing on military containment, Obama made it clear that economic competition is a priority of the U.S. It isn’t entirely negative if China and the U.S. increase economic competition, with economic interdependence dictating increased pressure for economic and technological advancement and cooperation.

The recent announcement by the Pentagon to pause the expansion of mil-to-mil exchanges with China hearkens to the anachronistic Cold War attitudes of creating and dehumanizing an enemy. China and the U.S. will likely have disagreements related to overlapping issues, but the need for cooperation on mutual global issues is necessary to avoid reckless encounters.

I have watched carefully the evolution of China's concept of a "New Type of Great Power Relationship." This has been a core element of President Xi Jinping's foreign policy towards the United States. I am a strong supporter of this concept.

In his 2015 State of the Union, President Obama repeatedly mentioned China, made forceful proposals to improve the economy for the middle-class, and warned against any attempt to repeal his signature legislation and executive actions.

President Obama’s sixth State of the Union (SOTU) address was heavy on domestic policy and light on foreign policy. The president did not talk much about recent progress in the US-Chinese relations. Instead, he focused on the urgency to complete the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement – without China. There is a reason to the omission and the focus: the Obama White House is increasingly concerned over its legacy.

By not emphasizing security differences with Beijing, President Barack Obama’s State-of-the-Union address made evident his general satisfaction with the success of his China policies.

The “Pivot to Asia” policy has been primarily driven by cold war and military conceptions of containing China’s rise. President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech kept with a distinctly American theme of soft-imperialism with mention of “writing the rules” to free trade agreements in Asia, instead of acknowledging China’s own sovereignty.

It is my hope that the Obama administration will leave a satisfactory legacy in promoting US-China relations by enhancing mutual strategic trust and pragmatic cooperation between the two nations.

Chen Xiangyang provides an overview of the major international power conflicts during 2014, a year marked by “flux” and “reconfiguration.” Western countries will find it hard to dominate international order, institutions, and rules due to the collective emergence of new powers, mostly in Asia.