President Barack Obama and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands before their bilateral meeting at the G-20 Summit on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Cai Penghong reviews the achievements attained at the 2013 APEC Summit in Bali, and the 8th East Asia Summit and concludes that, despite President Obama’s absence, a number of noteworthy developments and deals have been put into place.

After two decades of on-and-off talks, Washington and Brussels hope to conclude their trade and investment partnership. However, it is not a marriage, but a triangle drama. Emerging Asia is the third party.

While US efforts to enhance stability in the Asia-Pacific region are welcome, they are inadequate to offset the rising strategic and economic uncertainty facing ASEAN member countries. Fortunately, ASEAN leaders seem to recognize this, and are working to establish a full-fledged diplomatic and economic “community” by 2015.

The China-US relationship is the most critical in today’s world. With the continued focus on the US pivot to Asia, many question the stability of the relationship as well as the goals of the two parties. While the US and China have differences, they should not view each other as threats, but rather seek to promote and develop their relationship.

Increased military exchanges and cooperation between China and the US can be regarded as a step towards building a new type of Sino-US military relationship, writes Wu Zurong.

While unrealistic to expect the United State to suspend its arms sales to Taiwan, Liu suggests that the US and Chinese defense chiefs agree to build “a sustained, substantive military to military relationship” to bolster ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

Following a meeting of the world’s top leaders at the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Liu Jiangyong examines Japan’s relations between China and the Republic of Korea and notes that several factors contribute to the historical departure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s current administration has taken compared to previous administrations.

Examining recent developments in the Asia-Pacific Stephen Harner posits that the true source of instability in East Asia is a result of the post-WWII alliance between the U.S. and Japan, rather than efforts to expand Japan’s constitution and enlarge its maritime presence.

After recently conducting counter-piracy exercises in the Gulf of Aden, increased naval cooperation between the United States and China appears to be on a positive tract. As Su Xiaohui explains, China’s aspiration to become a maritime power should not be perceived as a threat to the United States.