The threat of war from the chemical weapons crisis in Syria has waned, but has not disappeared, writes He Wenping. The Putin initiative marked a high-profile return to the Middle East, indicating that Russia has become an important player in the region, and to some extent, a decision-maker.

During President Xi Jinping’s September trip to the G20 summit, he also visited four Central Asian countries to discuss comprehensive strategic partnerships with China. Yu Sui discusses the possible ramifications of these visits and other global developments on the evolving China-US-Russia relationship.

The apparent use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war has produced shrill calls for launching air strikes on the regime of Bashar al Assad. Furthermore, proponents of a strike are using the 1999 NATO campaign as a precedent. However, what does this approach mean for Washington’s ties with Beijing and Moscow?