American foreign policy debates tend to focus disproportionally on the Middle East. To correct this tendency, the Obama administration’s adopted the so-called pivot to Asia (aka “rebalancing”): to refocus U.S. policy in proper proportion to the full range of the nation’s challenges and interests. Indeed, this broader perspective on today’s interconnected world and diligent approach to building the necessary coalitions, are the main elements that distinguish Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s pragmatic approach from the Republicans’ bullheaded approach.

(Fu Ying addressed at the Valdai International Discussion Club.)It's an honor to be invited to the Valdai International Discussion Club.Founded in 2004, the Val

Recent speeches given to the UN General Assembly by the U.S. and China illustrate sharp differences in areas such as domestic political systems, appropriate roles and relationships in world politics, and dispute resolution. Russia backed China on many points that the U.S. opposes. These disagreements will continue to play a large role in shaping the international arena.

September’s global summits saw the U.S. and China agreeing to abide by the Paris Accord on limiting emission of greenhouse gases, an influential and important step in encouraging others to follow their lead. On other issues, the two countries took divergent paths.

The two governments have been rather successful in managing their differences and avoiding possible crises, and they have the determination and the ability to continue safeguarding the overall China-US relationship. In the new normal, both sides need to direct their efforts at clearly explaining to their people the strategic intent of no conflict and no confrontation as well as their willingness to cooperate.

Despite all the hand-wringing over the vaunted China slowdown, the Chinese economy remains the single largest contributor to world GDP growth. For a global economy limping along at stall speed – and most likely unable to withstand a significant shock without toppling into renewed recession – that contribution is all the more important.

The world’s two largest economies must lead globalization onto a track of fast progress, to further accentuate “development”, placing more emphasis on “the politics of distribution”, rather than on “the politics of production”.

Chinese concepts and wisdom about “win-win cooperation”, “new type of major-country relationship”, “community of common destiny of all mankind” and “new security concept” will surely contribute to the G20 in the development of solidarity and a partnership spirit.

Amid changes in global political culture and turbulent relations between powers, it is unprecedentedly difficult to create, readjust and implement rules of global governance. Efforts must be made to resist the populist, nativist and nationalist political culture that is expanding and increasing throughout the world so that major-power relations can be stabilized and improved.

A new Penguin Special book attempts to recast China’s rise using eight “imperfect analogies.” Jared McKinney reviews the effort and reflects on the use of analogies in American political discourse, arguing that China’s rise broadly conceived still shares the most similarities with that of another contemporary great power: America.