Following U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s high-level meeting in Beijing, relations between China and the United States seem to be improving. As Su Xiaohui points out, this visit allowed officials from both sides to have constructive dialogue on a variety of problems and ease regional tensions between China, the United States and other nations in the Asia-Pacific.

In response to a recent memorandum created by the Brookings Institution in support of the Obama administration’s rebalance to Asia, Stephen Harner points out why the United States must abandon this foreign policy strategy and allow countries in the Asia-Pacific to establish order in the region without interference.

While the U.S. government takes no official position regarding any particular territorial dispute in the Asia-Pacific, the Obama administration’s claims of disinterest are fooling no one.

Could 2014 be a seminal year in the bilateral relationship between the United States and China? According to Da Wei, 2013 saw a posture of stabilization and growth between the nations and should serve as a future model to drive positive Sino-US relations.

The China-US Asia-Pacific Consultations held in Beijing this week was inaugurated in 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii, to reflect the commitment by the two nations' leaders to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship. The proper phrase for which is building a new type of major country relationship. However, rhetoric and policies in Washington often do not reflect such a goal.

In an excerpt from an article to be published in the first issue of the 2014 Fudan American Review, Cui Liru examines the United States’ rebalance to the Asia-Pacific and explains why China has become its strategic competitor in the region.

In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides posits that the ascension of a rising power is typically accompanied by the fall of the ruling power. However, by exploring two unprecedented realities in today’s society, Peng Guangqian lays out the argument for why the US and China can coexist.

The China-US relationship is, by all accounts, the decisive factor that will shape the future of the Asia-Pacific region and the world. It faces both opportunities and challenges in 2014. A stronger sense of shared responsibilities will put the new model of relations that both sides desire on a more solid footing, writes, Ruan Zongze.

Looking back on the past year, Yu Sui analyzes several geopolitical events and the major interactions between China, the United States and Russia to determine that more positive overtures are needed to construct collaborative relations between the three leading, global powers.

Exploring the prospects of the Obama administration’s rebalancing strategy in the Asia-Pacific, Chen Jimin describes four factors that will constrain the strategy’s success.