China and its Eurasian neighbors likely discussed the future of Central Asian security while attending the Chinese military parade. Chinese leaders may have to assume a more prominent security role in Central Asia and talks with U.S. officials can make this process more manageable.

Beyond search-and-rescue cooperation and crisis management, creating hotlines between China and the 10 ASEAN countries would carry a no less important symbolism: the consensus that the South China Sea issue is not an issue between them as a whole.

The recent amnesty that freed 155 Chinese loggers might calm Beijing and Kunming, effectively easing diplomatic tension between China and Myanmar. The move could also signal, however, that when it comes to the timber trade, it is business as usual.

In the South China Sea dispute, the US position has been inconsistent with itself and with norms of international law, breeding misunderstanding and suspicion. The result has raised the political temperature in the region, and could lead to undesirable results for all parties.

National League for Democracy party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, recently led a delegation to China to discuss increasingly strained tensions. Overall, Sino-Myanmar ties remain fairly strong and Chinese investment is particularly important to Myanmar.

Neighbourhood diplomacy is becoming a foreign policy priority for official Beijing, and demonstrates that China is willing to undertake the role of mediator in Afghanistan and accelerate regional efforts to bring all relevant parties to the negotiating table.

The “One Belt and One Road” initiative concerns 65 countries and 4.4 billion people and is China’s most important and strategic initiative. As the Middle East and Europe faces social, political, and economic turbulence, China invites all major economies to join this endeavor to improve infrastructure and trade throughout the world. Increasingly, China’s development is inseparable from the world; and world’s stability and prosperity are inseparable from China.

The Third Session of the 12th National People’s Congress delivered a “Report on the Work of the Government.” Notable advancement was made in conducting economic diplomacy with the Silk Road Economic Belt, 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Silk Road Fund. More significant openness to the outside world and expanded economic diplomacy are priorities of diplomatic work in 2015.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul have always been somewhat frosty, but recent developments are accentuating the animosity. Obama administration officials continue to press Seoul and Tokyo to resolve their differences on the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute, the comfort women issue, and other grievances. A comprehensive reconciliation between Seoul and Tokyo, U.S. leaders believe, is imperative to facilitate meaningful trilateral cooperation to deal with North Korea’s threatening behavior and China’s looming presence in the region.

Andrew Small’s new book on China-Pakistan relations is a very significant new revelation on a relationship that has been primarily strategic and military-based since its beginnings. The Karakoram Highway, which connects the two countries, has very little economic value and increasingly “Talibinization” has become a concern for Beijing, which may see its ally as a strategic counter to India’s eminence.