The news of the passing of Mr. Tung Chee Hwa — former Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Founding Chairman of the China-US Exchange Foundation — reached me on September 8. Although I knew that Mr. Tung was very ill for quite some time, yet I was sadly struck by this grievous news. With his departure, I have forever lost a respected leader, mentor and trusted friend. My mind is flooded with reflections on his contributions to think tank development, international exchange and national service, and I find myself unable to contain my grief while writing these lines to recall my days with him personally in the past 20 years.

The May 14-15 summit meeting in Beijing between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump resulted in some badly needed stabilization in bilateral relations. Both the symbols and the substance of the visit suggest a return to some normalcy of regularized interactions and the ability of the two leaders and their teams to discuss some of the most sensitive issues between the two sides. Even if detailed agreements are not reached (and not many were) there is still considerable value in such direct exchanges.

I was reminded again this weekend of the complexity of  international relations behavior with Henry Kissinger’s  rare review in the NYT book review section o