With the Winter Olympics bringing the world’s eyes to China, it seems that the stage is set for a major year of confrontation between rising China and the U.S., competing with rival benefit packages to draw third-parties away from their opponent.

China attaches great importance to Middle Eastern countries, with their range of ethnic and religious backgrounds, but its policies are based on right and wrong. It will not sacrifice its long-held principles and values.

China’s new Ambassador Qin Gang has arrived in Washington, DC, tasked with chipping away at the frosty relationship between America and his home country.

The deterioration of China-U.S. relations has not ended, and a turnaround is unlikely. Given the intense frictions of recent years, both countries have built up a fixed mindset about diplomatic strategy that has been incorporated in their domestic politics. Superb diplomatic skills will be needed to avert confrontation.

China-U.S. relations will likely remain strained under incoming President Joe Biden though the style and some of the substance will change. While defending U.S. security partners in Asia and seeking change in many PRC economic policies, the new team seems interested in exploring opportunities for cooperating on public health, nonproliferation, and especially climate change, under John Kerry, the first U.S. special presidential envoy for climate.

China’s rivalry with the United States unavoidably spills over into surrounding regions. There can be little doubt, therefore, that stabilizing the regional order must be China’s top priority. Its diplomacy should be focused at the regional level.

Negativity about China-U.S. relations are only part of a bigger picture. Widespread as they are, the downbeat commentaries do not capture the whole picture. Many factors need to be taken into account to make an accurate analysis.

China’s idea for a new model of international relations is about more than economics. It envisions global solidarity in the context of multipolar politics.

Drawing upon the past 70 years of Chinese global engagement, Vice-Minister He shines light on how multilateralism has benefited the Chinese nation as well as how China has played an important role — and can continue to play such a role — in the success of this ideology across the world. With the chaos brought by the new US regime and the rise of global populism, He emphasizes the need for China as an emerging power to support and help maintain multilateralism domestically and internationally.

China recently introduced new policies designed to open up its economy and increase the amount of foreign capital in the Chinese financial system. It sounds like a lot of effort is being put toward making China's financial sector more accessible, but is it, really?