In the wake of the Chinese/Russian joint veto of the United Nations Security Council resolution regarding Syria, and upon the occasion of 40 years having passed since President Richard M. Nixon traveled to China amid what he called “the week that changed the world,” Christopher Hill shares his insight as to how the U.S.-China relationship has evolved to become “arguably the most important and complex bilateral relationship in the world” in his latest essay for Project Syndicate.

Hill, currently dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at University of Denver, was U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and ambassador to Iraq, South Korea, Macedonia and Poland. He was also special envoy for Kosovo, a negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords, and chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea from 2005-2009.