Obama has an opportunity to break from the past and make a brilliant mark in history by curtailing his administration’s pivot to Asia, writes George Koo.

Tim Robbins’ recent rendition of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Beijing attempted to relate to present-day waves of violence throughout the world by emphasizing a need for ‘the power of love’, but given the turmoil in Eastern Europe, Thailand, the Middle East, and in China’s maritime vicinity, the concept of ‘order’ might be a more necessary emphasis.

In light of President Obama’s commencement speech at West Point, Minxin Pei analyzes and discusses various facets of the talk. Specifically, Pei points to four themes in President Obama’s speech as particularly poignant, and spends the bulk of the essay discussing them.

Given the ‘pivot to Asia’ policy that has been executed by the Obama administration, Stephen Harner discusses its various negative implications. In addition to his assessment of the policy’s shortcomings, Harner also asserts that the Obama administration needs to reverse entirely this ‘pivot to Asia’ policy. Such a policy reversal, according to Harner, would create stability in Asia.

Chen Jimin uses President Obama’s West Point commencement speech to serve as the springboard for a discussion about the structural dilemmas the United States faces with regard to its foreign policy. According to Jimin, there exist four structural difficulties, and dedicates the bulk of his essay to fleshing them out.

In light of President Obama’s address at West Point, Mel Gurtov discusses various aspect of the speech and analyzes its implications on U.S. foreign policy.

The unfavorable Chinese media coverage of President Barack Obama’s recent Asian trip reflects the mistaken impression that the president’s tour was designed to rally regional partners against Beijing, writes Richard Weitz.

Wang Yusheng writes that China is not a “negative energy,” and the US should no longer continue to use regional allies to contain China. Instead, the United States should realize China’s growing power and cooperatively engage the country to bring regional stability to the Asia-Pacific.

China and the US are big countries in the Asia-Pacific. China appreciates a constructive US presence in the region. But it will also be unequivocally opposed to the US endangering Chinese national interests while developing ties with other Asia-Pacific nations, writes Fu Mengzi.

Following the first visit to Japan by a U.S. president in nearly two decades, Stephen Harner examines President Barack Obama’s recent tour of four East Asian nations in order to truly understand how U.S.-Japan relations are advancing and what this means for the future of Sino-U.S. relations given current tensions between China and Japan.