Achieving denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula should be the priority. The major concerns of all parties regarding national security should be understood, and an equilibrium point should be sought regarding security. Effectively managing concerns regarding THAAD is necessary to solve this difficult problem.

Despite some hidden troubles in the relationship, by establishing effective channels of communication, prudently dealing with “provocations” and actively formulating an “agenda of cooperation”, Beijing and Washington have sustained a relationship that could have been swamped in uncertainties in the recent US transfer of power.

Why can’t the United States achieve its policy aims in North Korea? The main reason that the United States has failed to achieve its objectives is because it has tied its own hands behind its back - abjuring the use of diplomacy, that most classic of the instruments of state, even when diplomacy could help it to achieve national interest goals.

Both China and the US have begun to deliberate on ways of dealing with each other in the next few decades, and are willing to set a positive course for the future development of bilateral ties over the long term.

One of the primary responsibilities as president is to ensure the security of the United States as well as stability on a global level. To serve as a “threat minimizer” if you will. However, in the last five months, Trump’s clear disregard for these responsibilities only serves to further validate concerns about his qualifications to lead.

Rather than serving as a pretext for engagement, Warmbier’s return to the U.S. and subsequent death is yet another nail in the coffin for already imperiled U.S.-North Korea relations. Warmbier’s passing merits a strong response from the U.S. government, but will also likely require a coordinated response from other regional actors, including China and South Korea. Two significant events, the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD) between the U.S. and China, and the upcoming summit between President Trump and newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in may be defining moments for developing a more coordinated regional strategy to address North Korea.

The future of China-US relations will to a large extent be determined by the intentions of the two countries and their views of each other. For quite some time, the US side has complained about China’s ‘lack of transparency in strategic intentions’. But as some American scholars argue, if you regard the other party as an enemy, hostility may well become a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.

Expecting the People’s Republic of China to destroy its ally while the U.S. was busy elsewhere in the region seeking to contain Chinese military power, and to do so without receiving anything in return, never was realistic. Unspecified trade concessions simply weren’t enough to make a deal. Washington should revive the North’s proposal for a freeze on its activities in return for an end to annual military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.

It should be clear to all stakeholders in Northeast Asia that China alone cannot solve the North Korean nuclear issue because it has never been a Beijing-Pyongyang issue. It was created by Pyongyang and Washington in the first place, and now it is the US that holds the key to a final solution.

During a week when the world has again been reminded of the depravity of the North Korean regime, given its likely role in the death of Otto Warmbier, it is important nonetheless to evaluate any possible opportunity for capping and ultimately dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and long-range missile forces with an open mind.