Increasing cooperation between the Philippines and Russia suggests that there is a burgeoning relationship in the East that may lessen the Philippines’ dependency on the United States. Such a relationship also has implications for China’s involvement in the disputed South China Sea.

Virtually every major breakthrough in relations between China and India had its roots in direct interaction by the top leaders. What matters most is that they have now institutionalized the dialogue.

With the United States talking about an incremental approach, the dispute could drag on indefinitely. But both sides have incentive to call it quits — preferably sooner than later.

The Asia-Pacific region has rapidly become the center of global economic and strategic activity. By 2020, the region will account for two-thirds of global GDP, half of global trade, and nearly three-fourths of global military spending. Major wars or strategic confrontations in this region, if they occur, could prove catastrophic.

Policymakers in the U.S. grow increasingly worried that China and North Korea are beginning to fortify their relationship, as well as about what the implications of such an alliance would be, but the historically strained relationship between the two nations does not merit incredible concern.

President Xi Jinping has pointed out that the world we live in is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.

If China’s dismal and declining approval ratings are any indication, the Philippine people are fast losing confidence in Duterte’s Beijing-friendly diplomacy, instead favoring a tougher approach to the South China Sea disputes.

China seeks to expand its influence in Europe as the trade war with the US wages on, while EU countries grow increasingly torn between the two global powers. China’s strategy to appeal to European nations has grown more nuanced and varied, working with an understanding of existing EU power dynamics.

Facts are being distorted for political purposes at high levels in the American government. While relations are better today than they were before Nixon, the road ahead may be fraught.

The United States-China trade war will make us all poorer and exacerbate the risks of war.