The Obama administration’s “rebalance to Asia” policy launched in 2010 has turned toward militaristic power-based containment rather than engagement. The Council of Foreign Relations has suggested that the U.S. boost military budgets with its allies, and diminish trade with China, a dangerous and misguided strategy that resembles Cold War tactics.

The challenges that face the world is not a due to a transition of power among states, but a diffusion of power away from governments. Nye argues that for a “new type of major power relations,” the U.S. needs to avoid containment as a strategy, and China must accept the legitimacy of American presence in the Western Pacific.

The recent State of the Union speech by President Obama didn’t underscore the critical importance of strengthened U.S. – Asia cooperation and engagement. Curtis Chin suggests that Obama could have more clearly clarified the Pivot to Asia, security issues in the South China Sea, and that increasingly America’s security and prosperity is linked to China and Asia.

The “Pivot to Asia” policy has been primarily driven by cold war and military conceptions of containing China’s rise. President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech kept with a distinctly American theme of soft-imperialism with mention of “writing the rules” to free trade agreements in Asia, instead of acknowledging China’s own sovereignty.

In 2013, the Sino-US relations ended with concern over strategic mistrust. In 2014, bilateral relations were characterized by a sense of optimism. While bilateral trust may endure through the Obama era, challenges will ensue thereafter.

Chen Yonglong explains the six “normal” states of interaction that will define the China-U.S. relationship: in redefining shared global power; in how leaders conduct dialogue; in economics; in strategic contention of hegemony and ideology; in their efforts to control dispute; and finally in their cycles of balance and rebalance.

Chinese experts underestimate the strong drivers underpinning the U.S. pivot to Asia, which will likely continue despite the Democratic losses in the recent congressional elections and the retirement of the U.S. Defense Secretary. Indeed, President Obama’s Asian policies enjoy bipartisan support and remain a White House priority despite economic and other challenges.

A reset is needed in the US-China relationship. By much objective analysis, the bilateral relationship has deteriorated during most of the six years of Obama administration and is now the worst it has been in decades, writes Stephen Harner.

If ISIS turns out to be a major threat to US national security, it’s reasonable to believe that the rise of China will become less of a problem for America. As for what it means for China and the US rebalance toward Asia, it still remains to be seen how effective Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State will be, writes Wang Wenfeng.

While many believe that the China-US relationship is passing through a rocky period and has dropped to a low point, Wu Jianmin suggests that the foundation of the relationship remains strong.