Continued friction may define US-China relations in the coming years. As such, balancing ties between the two major powers will constitute the greatest foreign policy test for successive Philippine administrations.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed has demonstrated himself to be a truly independent-minded leader. With an inexplicable audacity to stand up to both the West and East in order to protect the interest of smaller nations, he very well may be the last titan of Asia.

With big-power competition intensifying in the South China Sea region, the Philippines could be dragged into conflict. Reviewing the terms of the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty can only provide minimal security for the entangled Philippines nation.

The US should move away from suppressing China’s development and instead make attempts towards collaboration. China and the US should find effective ways to get along in a new international economic and political environment, and seek mutually beneficial collaboration in competition and management and control.

US delegates met with the Taliban this month in what resulted in the most comprehensive discussions between the two sides to date. Despite this progress, no breakthroughs were made, and negotiators must persist. Patience is a necessary attribute when on a course towards peace.

The 32nd ASEAN Summit, held in Singapore on April 27 and 28, saw the ASEAN adopting tough language against America’s trade protectionism, while pursuing further its blossoming relations with China.

For China the Arctic represents a largely blank geoeconomic canvas outside of the United States’ sphere of influence in which it can lay the foundation today for significant economic and geopolitical rewards in the future.

The release of China’s Arctic White Paper in late January brought broad attention to China’s somewhat nascent but rapidly expanding role and interests in the Arctic region. Even though most of the information in the White Paper is not new, initiatives such as the Polar Silk Road could indicate a coming surge in China’s political and economic endeavors in the Arctic.

Washington’s current Asia-Pacific strategy is financially unsustainable. Instead of trying to organize a containment system, Washington should focus on advancing its few serious interests, such as freedom of navigation. Otherwise the U.S. should step back and leave China’s neighbors free to respond to whatever they believe necessary.

Security and the economy are the two key areas of global governance. Zero-sum game thinking on these issues should be avoided at all costs.