In the spring of 2019, Chinese experts assessed China’s relations with the United States and Russia forty years after reform and opening began. They also evaluated China–Japan–South Korea and China–India–Russia relations. They analyzed the current US–Japan alliance and the US “securitization” of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Conspicuous in many of these analyses is their broad historical scope as well as the implications they draw for policies China should consider. There is a clear effort to avoid a new cold war, manage Sino–US tensions, avoid being drawn into an alliance with Russia, and look for ways to invoke trilateralism to improve relations with countries such as India, Japan, and South Korea. This mood may reflect the uncertainty of the first four months of 2019; a watchful eye should be kept on Chinese writings since the trade war hardened.

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