With the commanding in power of China’s new leadership in the March, China has unfolded its ambitious new diplomacy with amity, accommodation and principle, writes Shen Dingli.

On 26 December 2013, Shinzo Abe made a high-profile visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and said the visit fulfilled his long-cherished wish. The war shrine visit puts China-Japan relations in deep freeze and disturbs the geometry of power in the western Pacific, writes Liu Junhong.

Shifting the focus of domestic contradictions was also smugly calculated into Abe's decision. His shrine visit again brazenly affronted Chinese people and the people of other victimized countries and aggravated relations with Japan's neighbors, writes Li Wei.

Foreign news agencies have reported that President Barack Obama will likely nominate Senator Max Baucus to be his next envoy to China. If this is true and no change happens, it should be a positive move for the China-US relations, writes Tao Wenzhao.

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.

On December 16 (Dec 15 US time), 1978, China and the United States simultaneously announced that they would formally establish diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. Amazing changes have taken place in the past 35 years. Where will the Sino-US relationship head to in the next 35 year? That is a question people of both countries and the world hope to find a satisfactory answer to, writes Chen Yonglong.

U.S. Journalist Tom Plate discusses China’s need for patience in an excerpt from his new book “In the Middle of the Future.”

Following the whirlwind tour of high-level interactions between the United States and China, Qian Liwei examines the synergistic relationship between the two countries and lays out steps for a future built on cooperation.