This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which will be held in China. While there is much to celebrate at this juncture, Wu Zhenglong points out that further cooperation between the US and China is key to APEC’s future success and the economic stability of member countries.

The tense atmosphere in the Asia-Pacific has only intensified with China’s announcement of new fishing rules and an ADIZ in disputed waters. However, as Stephen Harner points out, China’s actions were necessary given regional security threats and unproductive military-to-military dialogue with the US.

In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides posits that the ascension of a rising power is typically accompanied by the fall of the ruling power. However, by exploring two unprecedented realities in today’s society, Peng Guangqian lays out the argument for why the US and China can coexist.

Zhang Tuosheng lays out a path for East Asia to secure the peace and development it has enjoyed since the end of the Cold War and to consolidate and develop its nebulous security order featuring pluralism, cooperation and coexistence.

China’s announcement of its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) surprised the world. And the strong response from the international community surprised China.

The China-US relationship is, by all accounts, the decisive factor that will shape the future of the Asia-Pacific region and the world. It faces both opportunities and challenges in 2014. A stronger sense of shared responsibilities will put the new model of relations that both sides desire on a more solid footing, writes, Ruan Zongze.

Looking back on the past year, Yu Sui analyzes several geopolitical events and the major interactions between China, the United States and Russia to determine that more positive overtures are needed to construct collaborative relations between the three leading, global powers.

Exploring the prospects of the Obama administration’s rebalancing strategy in the Asia-Pacific, Chen Jimin describes four factors that will constrain the strategy’s success.

On December 16 (Dec 15 US time), 1978, China and the United States simultaneously announced that they would formally establish diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. Amazing changes have taken place in the past 35 years. Where will the Sino-US relationship head to in the next 35 year? That is a question people of both countries and the world hope to find a satisfactory answer to, writes Chen Yonglong.

U.S. Journalist Tom Plate discusses China’s need for patience in an excerpt from his new book “In the Middle of the Future.”