During the Cold War, the United States occupied the apex of this triangular dynamic, pitting China and the USSR against each other. Today, it is Beijing that occupies that apex.

It is ... inevitable that the direction the country is going in will have to change.

Trump’s willingness to defend an ally may depend upon whether he currently gets along with its political leadership.

Europeans do not have a choice. They have to get along with both Xi’s China and Trump’s America.

[T]he United States had itself rendered that alliance network more fragile.

[I]t is difficult to see how the Gulf nations would agree to sign the Abraham Accords and how the Accords could be a precondition to peace with Iran.

Trump appeared more focused on admiring China’s grand ballroom designs and expressing interest in building a similar one in the United States.

Among the lessons is that the international community is interconnected and interdependent due to the phenomenon of globalization.

The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.

The Beijing summit did not produce a major agreement between the great powers on the region, but it firmly established that Middle Eastern crises are now deeply tied to the great-power dialogue.