China and the United States of America have recently announced almost simultaneously the June 7-8 summit between President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama at the Annenberg estate at Rancho Mirage, California, which has caught worldwide attention. No doubt, the forthcoming summit will have extraordinary importance to China-US relationship and to world stability and development.

The recent publication of Visa’s International Financial Literacy Barometer has sparked interest in the United States’ mature financial sector and China’s still-developing financial markets. Noting the low ranking of China and Hong Kong, Michael Justin Lee explains that being financially literate will not only help Asia’s young finance sector boon, but will also improve the world’s future economic outlook.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico and hold a meeting with US President Barack Obama at Sunnylands, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Estate in California. This will be a new important step in the full swing of Chinese diplomacy since the new leadership took office.

Meeting with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to cement China’s economic and trade relations with emerging economies in Africa. As China’s investment in the continent continues to increase, Professor Robert Rotberg examines how natural gas deposits in Mozambique will shape China’s future in the region.

China’s growing defense budget seems to be a perpetual topic for speculation, interpretation, and allegations. Based on analysis from Xiao Tiefeng, China’s defense budget is neither growing excessively fast, nor is it extraordinarily large, nor is it a threatening factor to international peace.

China’s declining GDP has sent shockwaves through the financial sector as analysts begin to question China’s long-term economic strategy. As Minxin Pei points out, “zombie firms,” or companies primarily supported through bank loans and government subsidies, are complicating China’s sustained growth. By eliminating these firms and instituting reforms, China can bolster innovation and ensure the opening of its economic markets.

An earlier Xi-Obama summit, writes Qian Liwei, is expected to pave the way for a more positive, mature and predictable Sino-U.S. relations based on mutual respect, reciprocal benefit and win-win co-operation.

While tensions on the Korean Peninsula have slowly began to dissipate, Nathan Beuchamp-Mustafaga delves into the complex issue of how China uses North Korea as leverage in the U.S.-China relationship and provides policy responses for the United States.

This is a crucial moment for Sino-U.S. relations, as heated debates about the future of this relationship rage in both countries -- debates characterized by downright pessimism, with only a sliver of optimism.

The combination of the U.S. pivot to Asia and the reemergence of nationalism in Japan has created tension in the Asia-Pacific region. As China continues to feel threatened by the close relations between the U.S. and Japan, Wu Zurong points out that irritants to Sino-U.S. relations will hurt the Asia-Pacific as a whole.