Over June 7–8, 2013, U.S. president Barack Obama hosted Chinese president Xi Jinping for a summit at Sunnylands, the serene Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, California. The Xi-Obama summit, an informal, shirt-sleeve event that took place early on in the two leaders’ new administrations, was unprecedented in both its style and timing, and indeed was a rare occurrence in U.S.-China relations in the three decades since normalization. By shrugging off diplomatic formalities, the Xi-Obama summit demonstrated the maturity of the U.S.-China relationship.

Although the US is firmly established in the region, many Pacific countries are concerned about US stability and consistency in policy. China’s recent confident actions have allowed for relations with ASEAN to grow and may have begun to act to supplant the US role. But do the two powers need to be competing or can they work in tandem?

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.

Many people in my country have a misperception about the state of U.S./China relations over the last 75 years. They assume it shared much with the Cold War that characterized the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union during much of the last half of the 20th century. But China and the United States never faced each other as Cold War adversaries in the past and there is no reason that they should do so in the future, writes Stephen Hadley.

Both the Chinese and U.S. governments welcomed last week’s decision of the Noble Prize Committee to award the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) its annual peace prize. However, while Beijing and Washington cooperate on most chemical weapons issues, they do differ on some.

Debates have been spurred over the strategies of the United States’ new Air-Sea Battle (ASB) military concept that addresses the scenario of Chinese aggression. Complications such as likely nuclear escalation may keep fighting off mainland China and lead to proxy wars that will require building strong military relationships with allies that can keep Chinese and U.S. ambitions in check.

Tao Wenzhao provides a brief review of the events that have taken place since the beginning of this year, showing that the two countries have reached and started the process of building a new model of major-country relations.

While US attention on China can often become unfocused due to the “crisis du jour”, Joan Johnson-Freese notes the importance of maintaining a consistent and balanced policy towards China.

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.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a speech at the Brookings Institution on 20 September 2013, sharing his thoughts on the way toward a new model of major-country relations between China and the United States.