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​After days of delay, the US and China reviewed their phase one trade agreement in a telephone call on 25 August. Both sides sidestepped the question of recent US actions against Chinese companies, but there is no guarantee that this uneasy truce will hold up as the 2020 US presidential race intensifies.

The US seems to think that China is the old Soviet Union, and worse, that it has been disingenuous and is only showing its true colours now. Given testy relations, China is waiting it out until the US presidential election in November. But even if there is a new president from the Democratic Party in the White House, will China’s woes recede?

Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan notes the seeming aggressiveness of the PLA’s large-scale military exercises in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but says that the intention is in fact to prevent combat rather than to initiate it.

Even as China says that it is not trying to change the world order, its actions can be interpreted as suggesting otherwise. Chinese economics professor Zhu Ying traces how China has been influencing the world order, if not changing it.

China appears to be making a concerted effort to reach out to friendlier countries in an effort to draw them closer. Yang Jiechi, who is a Politburo member and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, is visiting Singapore and South Korea this week. ISEAS academic Lye Liang Fook thinks that both China and Singapore are seeking to broaden their strategic space amid a more unpredictable and precarious world.

Analyst Zheng Weibin says that as the Trump administration continues to target China without a clear shape to its strategic competition strategy, Beijing cannot afford to think that it can brazenly respond in kind. Employing stealthy guerrilla warfare tactics may be more appropriate.

In the great China-US contest, overcoming weaknesses, more than capitalising on strengths, will be the deciding factor in determining who emerges the victor, says Wei Da. Any country is only as good as its weakest link, and the sooner the both of them realise that and look their shortcomings in the eye, the better. Wei Da identifies China's biggest challenge and its weaknesses in this article.

​Even as the US and China are ramping up their military presence in the Taiwan Strait, academics say that this is to prevent military conflict and ease tensions in the area. Nonetheless, attempts at inducing the opponent to beat a retreat will still ratchet up tensions in the region. Yang Danxu analyses this case of creeping escalation.

For India to be a significant player in Myanmar, it needs to do more, whether on its own or by working with others. Muhammad Saad Siddiqui suggests that an obvious partner is actually China. Difficult bilateral ties aside, there is much room for cooperation.