A New Era of U.S.-China Relations?

The nature of the United States' relationship with the People's Republic of China has arguably entered a new era. Since President Xi Jinping assumed the leadership role in China, U.S.-China affairs have steadily undergone a fundamental transformation. In this new era, the PRC is more assertive and, indeed, aggressive on an entire range of issues covering the political, security, and socioeconomic spectrums. The U.S.-China relationship is one of our most important given what is at stake. And when we discuss what exactly is at stake-such as peace and security across the Taiwan Strait and freedom of navigation and movement in the East China and South China Seas-we see that not enough attention is being given to this critical relationship. Just a few months ago, the debate focused on whether the administration's "pivot to Asia" was adequately resourced. It's clear the administration is struggling to find a way to better direct America's resources toward the Asia-Pacific and find a way to manage the growth of maritime territorial disputes. As a result, with this void, we see that China is shifting its assertiveness in the security arena and is now focusing it on American businesses operating in that country.