As President Obama’s Asia trip begins, it is useful to look at how the table is set for the most complex relationship an American president must manage:

Obama successfully avoided the opening foreign policy crisis with China that has become typical for most new U.S. administrations (recall the reconnaissance plane incident in George W. Bush’s first term). Indeed, the shared challenge of global economic risk was managed in a way that has deepened habits of cooperation in both capitals. China and the U.S. enacted stimulus measures with the result that both are closer to recovery than many other economies.