Recent developments signal a potential thaw in U.S.-China space cooperation, as NASA’s outreach sparks cautious optimism but also draws sharp political criticism from China, highlighting both the promise and the challenges of collaboration amidst broader tensions.

Prediction is always difficult, but doubly so in the case of the US president-elect. Donald Trump not only speaks loosely and changes his positions often; he al

Beijing has put the United States on notice that China will fight to safeguard its interests. Like a giant panda, which will attack someone who pokes it in the eye, China retaliated swiftly after the Biden administration tightened the screws on technology exports. Donald Trump, who has threatened a new trade war, should take careful note.

America’s best-laid plans to change China have clearly failed over the decades. The question now is whether Donald Trump can rise above that history and meet China on its own terms. If not, the incoming occupant of the White House will sadly preside another failed episode of fruitless U.S. ambitions to conquer China.

Despite his unpredictability, Donald Trump seems committed to the current strategic trajectory. But China has gained a deeper understanding and accumulated significant experience. It will likely approach America’s Indo-Pacific Strategy with greater confidence and composure in Trump’s second term.

The election of Donald Trump to a second term signals that the United States will temporarily step back from the next wave of globalization. As a consequence, Japan’s future security will lie in its deep integration into the processes of globalization and regional integration. This raises an opportunity for improving China-Japan relations.

The recent prisoner swap and forward movement on illicit drugs by China and the United States demonstrates that the two powers can make stabilizing progress together when they put their minds to it. But more uncertainty is on the way, as Donald Trump returns to the White House.

There are no winners in war — either shooting wars or technology wars. The scope of the new agreement between China and the United States is narrower after revisions, yet it’s still good for both sides because it preserves contacts and exchanges at many levels.

China-US Focus editor KJ Kerr sat down with Dr. Michael D. Swaine, a prominent American scholar of Chinese security studies, to explore his thoughts on the state of U.S.-China relations. Swaine, currently with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, points to a need for greater frankness and openness between the rival powers and suggests that they can do things — both individually and together — to reduce tensions and forestall conflict.

"Reagan asked Gorbachev: If Martians attacked the United States, would you come to our defense? And Gorbachev said yes, and then asked Reagan: If Martians attacked the USSR, would you come to our defense? And President Reagan said yes."