The Secretary of State deepened the understanding between two countries at this critical time, but the chatter around the visit reminds both countries that consensus is easy to reach but hard to actualize. Upcoming high-level meetings, including President Xijping’s September State visit to Washington, provide opportunities to expand that critical understanding.

The maritime issue casts a dark shadow on the cooperation between the two countries in the wake of tenser contests in the South China Sea. It is time to prevent this difference from dominating the bilateral relationship.

While the U.S. and China understand that military confrontation is in neither nation’s interest, leaders are not willing to budge from actions they consider key to protecting vital national interests. The U.S. has interest in the shipping lanes and its regional allies, while China is unshakable in its desire to safeguard regional sovereignty.

Since the end of last year, the chess game over the South China Sea has grown bigger, with more outside players, bringing the situation to a new stage on the eve of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

Under Xi, China has moved to a proactive posture to shape its external security environment, using trade and investment to expand its sphere of strategic influence while simultaneously asserting territorial and maritime claims against its neighbors. The Maritime Silk Road project is driven by his belief that the maritime domain holds the key to China achieving preeminence in Asia.

Earlier this week, the commander of the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet made headlines when he suggested that ASEAN countries could cooperate to form a maritime force t

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam. Vietnam and China have tried, with some success, to iron out their differences through high-level talks, but far more needs to be done to avert another dramatic and detrimental maritime incident as the world saw play out with the 2014 drilling rig crisis.

China's rig HYSY 981 can be considered part of China’s Maritime Silk Road strategy – an attempt to strengthen relationships with ASEAN nations through economic opportunity. But as HYSY 981’s deployment drew controversy in the past, it should instead focus on resource development in less controversial waters for the time being.

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 U.S. State Department released a study of China’s “nine-dash line” in December, analyzing the legal basis in maritime law. Sourabh Gupta critiques this analysis, stating that as long as China limits these activities to traditional fishing - not resource development or marine scientific research – and exercises them on a non-exclusive basis, the nine-dash line as a perimeter of China’s is not inconsistent with international law.