The recent agreement hammered out by major powers, the UN and Iran set a powerful example for resolving regional and international problems. The hard work is far from over, as suspicion lingers in Washington, Tehran and some Arab capitals, but the success so far shows that difficult issues can be resolved through negotiation when all parties are sincere about achieving a result.

The Philippines manipulative and dishonest actions in the South China Sea have tried Beijing’s patience too far, and perhaps that of the United States as well.

Washington’s cozy-up with Japan’s military suggests the US has a short memory about its wartime experience, and Japan’s ultimate intentions should be re-examined.

In the South China Sea dispute, the US position has been inconsistent with itself and with norms of international law, breeding misunderstanding and suspicion. The result has raised the political temperature in the region, and could lead to undesirable results for all parties.

The new Pentagon strategy is a throw-back to Cold War thinking and contrary to the world view of America’s founding fathers. It may pose a new barrier to developing new major-power relations in a multi-polar world, unless all sides seek a cooperative approach.

The most fundamental driving force for the pact is the profound and deepening development toward a multipolar world. Economic globalization has closely integrated the interests of all countries, and the conception of a community of common destiny for all mankind has taken root, replacing the sort of unilateralism most recently practiced by the United States.

As the South China Sea’s most promising near-term developable gas field in the South China Sea, Sampaguita could offer a solution of cooperation, peace, and legitimacy to Chinese claims near the Philippines.

Given the accepted narrative of the space environment as congested, contested and competitive, the U.S. has been told to deter, defend and defeat Chinese challenges in space. This rhetoric wrongfully assumes challenge and elides preemption with prevention.

Though 34 African countries are signatories to the Rome Statute, the continent now generally sees the ICC as a political organ that has “deviated from its original purpose”, exercising double standards and “only targeting African countries for case investigation and conviction”. The US exempts itself but demands compliance from the rest of the world.

A changing world requires China to take a clearer, more comprehensive approach to its national security. It strikes a balance between maintaining national security and promoting socioeconomic development, between internal and external security, between the security of territory and people, between traditional security and non-traditional security, and between security of a single country and that of all countries.