As the Chinese government looks to kick economic cooperation with EU in high gear, it is crucial to weigh pros and cons and get a clear image of what EU may come to expect from closer cooperation with the rising giant.

The Xi Jinping Administration is facing significant hurdles in its bid to maintain consistent growth in the Chinese economy.

It is key to see Sino-Russian cooperation not as primarily a values-based relationship, but rather a pragmatic cooperation initiative underpinned by shared authoritarian values.

There is little prospect of soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army splashing ashore along the Taiwanese coast in the immediate future. But the perceived need in Beijing to reclaim the island as part of China’s return to great power status means that the risk of conflict is likely to grow in the years ahead.

We should hope these new challenges in Ukraine and in the south with ISIS will strengthen the alliance once more for the future – a future with a potentially bigger challenge involving the economic and military rise of China.

To truly understand the Chinese we must see them through their eyes instead of our own.

Last month saw the Pentagon announce that it was moving away from its controversial Air-Sea Battle (ASB) programme, declaring instead that it would be absorbed into a new – and somewhat amorphous sounding – model, to be known as the “Joint Concept for Access and Maneuver in the Global Commons” (JAM-GC).

Last week, the Japanese cabinet undertook a significant shift in their country’s defence policy, by agreeing to reinterpret the constitutional limits on the use of force in a less strict manner. The new understanding of the restrictions of Article 9 now allow for Japanese “collective self-defense” as well as military intervention to protect its treaty allies.

In 1405 A.D. the legendary Admiral Zheng He set the sails of his mighty armada for the first time. Over the following decades he went on seven journeys for the Emperors of the Ming dynasty. With up to 300 vessels and 30,000 men he came as far as Burma and India. China was the dominant naval power in the world – until Emperor Zhengtong had the entire fleet burnt down.

This article deals with the premises that ought to be considered when analysing developments in China. It then goes on to suggest why one ought not to be disappointed, but be cautiously optimistic of the reforms laid out in the Third Plenum concluded on 12th November 2013.