In recent years, the concept of a “new type of great power relations” (xinxing daguo guanxi) has appeared as a prominent theme in Chinese international relations discourse¹. The concept was first outlined by State Councillor Dai Bingguo at the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in 2010, but achieved particular prominence following Xi Jinping’s visits to the United States as vice-president in 2012 and as president in 2013. At the Sunnylands summit with Barack Obama in June 2013, Xi explained that the “new type of great power relations” was based on the principles of “no confrontation or conflict,” “mutual respect,” and “win-win cooperation.”² Yet all this positive language about cooperation and mutual benefit cannot hide the fact that the United States and China face a number of political, economic, and security challenges with the potential to drag them into conflict rather than cooperation. One of the most pressing is China’s relationship with Japan.

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