The past several months have seen a growing chorus of calls for the U.S. to take stock of its policy toward China. Some prominent voices have called for greater efforts by the U.S. and China to forge “a substantive sense of common purpose,” while others reject the notion that the U.S. and China can ever coexist without conflict and believe America needs to contain China. Still others argue that the basic assumptions of our current diplomacy toward China should not change despite escalating friction. This renewed attention, to what for a long time has been deemed the world’s most important bilateral relationship, takes place against the backdrop of rising tension between the countries in the South China Sea, and newly hostile rhetoric from China about the dangers of “the West.”—The Editors