With the proposal of the new power relationship concept, introduced by the Chinese leadership, many may tip in favor of a more balanced relationship for both sides as they agree to step away from power politics and instead aim to enhance international cooperation.

Mirroring foreign relations following World War II, it appears Japan is once again beholden to the US to preserve regional security. The US must toe a careful line between advancing Japanese interests and containing China.

Tensions in US-China relations have not been eased by President Obama’s attempts to revitalize the American economy by establishing a free trade agreement with the European Union. As China has yet to become the United States’ preeminent trade partner, Colin Moreshead urges Beijing to make the first overture to improve trade between the world’s two largest economies.

With its growing purchasing power, China has to decide if it seeks to become a hegemon, says Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew. Lee believes that Chinese leadership will avoid military confrontations with the US as they recognize that China is better off gaining economical influence and hopes the two nations will aim for compromises when agreements cannot be reached.

Ever since the rightists in Japan took to raising trouble by purchasing the Diaoyu Islands, the Obama administration has never had a real sense of the risks lurking in the Japanese provocation.

Although Japanese PM Abe has been in office for less than two months, he has vowed to strengthen the US-Japan alliance to respond to the “threats” of China and North Korea. However,he has never explained exactly how he intends to strengthen the US-Japan alliance or what it means today.

Although some Obama advisers have recommended harsh action in response to China’s cyberespionage, China is unlikely to respond as they may hope. The spying will continue and probably intensify regardless of what the United States does.

As US-China relations continue to develop, many international relations scholars attempt label the countries as rising and falling powers, or friends and foes. However, Chen Yonglong and Xue Junying dismiss this notion, preferring the term partners, which highlight the countries’ cooperation and mutual trust.

Adam Segal looks at the evidence from the hacking scandal that has rocked the US media world. He writes that the evidence that the hackers are China-based in all of these cases is suggestive, but not conclusive.

Dismissing rumors of an impending trade war, He Weiwen promotes China-US business cooperation to solve America’s unemployment crisis and create a win-win scenario for both China and the United States.