The United States needs to stop undermining Chinese sovereignty. Plenty of reassuring words have appeared on paper over the past seven decades, but the U.S. has been two-faced. There is simply no reason for it to lean, secretly or openly, toward confrontation.

Kurt Campbell, coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region on the U.S. National Security Council, added some clarity recently on United States policy regarding the island. The Biden administration’s policy review appears to be finished, and it’s starting to take action.

More efforts are needed by China and the Philippines to relieve tensions over the presence of Chinese vessels. Variables such as a mutual defense treaty with the United States and the coming presidential election in the Philippines are possible inflection points.

U.S. core national interests are defined by the new administration as safeguarding American strength, promoting power sharing to U.S. advantage and upholding a stable and open international system.

A complete reassessment of Washington’s stance on territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea is long overdue. Implied obligations and strategic ambiguity only increases risks for all parties.

A recent court case in Hangzhou saw a landmark victory for data privacy and security in China. As facial recognition technology becomes more readily accessible, how will lawmakers across the world react?

For now and the foreseeable future, gaming will be intensified, making compromise difficult. It will likely remain peaceful and manageable on the whole, but uncertainties are growing.

Already hotly contested, the South China Sea is seeing an uptick in movement since certain European powers have gotten involved. It remains to be seen how far Europe is willing to go in shaping the maritime disputes along its preferences and provisions of international law.

Once again the annual assessment is filled with unfounded suspicion and smears. Nevertheless, with relations at low ebb between China and the United States, relations between the two militaries will be the key to peace.

Since the 1970s, the US has tread a fine line of pursuing neutrality on claims to the South China Sea. The Trump administration, however, looks set to upend that policy.