Over the weekend, China's chief banking regulator sharply criticized the US Federal Reserve and the monetary policy of the United States. Liu Mingkan said that the U.S. Federal Reserve's promise to keep U.S. interest rates at extraordinarily low levels for an extended period "has already led to a massive U.S. dollar carry trade and massive speculation."

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that Washington was not trying to contain China's rise but said trade between the two giants needed to be more balanced.

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"We do not seek to contain China's rise," Obama said before taking questions from the audience as well as from Chinese over the Internet.

"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation but we also don't believe the principals we stand for are unique to our nation."

It seems to be on many minds these days. I don't see this happening. The two countries rely to heavily on each other.

CHUNG MIN LEE

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, President Barack Obama's Asia tour will conclude this week with a visit to South Korea—the world's last Cold War frontier. Even as he ponders critical next steps in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, the president in Asia faces a region on the cusp of fundamental change. More so than any of Mr. Obama's predecessors, how his administration chooses to help shape Asia's rise throughout the first quarter of the 21st century is going to have a critical impact on America's own future as a superpower.

For the first time in world history, three major regions—North America, continental Europe and East Asia—are sharing the world stage. This is possible in no small part because the U.S. engineered the post-World War II pacification and reconstruction of Germany and Japan. Indeed, the eventual formation of the European Union and Asia's rise over the past half century would have been impossible without two critical ingredients: America's security umbrella and the opening of its markets to European and Asian goods.

Having created this tripolar world, the U.S. and especially President Obama now need to focus on three core issues to shape the world for the next half century.

WASHINGTON — A clear majority of Americans see China as an economic threat, a poll showed Monday, as Barack Obama sought to bolster relations on his first trip to Beijing and Shanghai as president.

More than 70 percent of those questioned in the CNN poll said they considered the Asian giant to be an economic threat, while only 28 percent disagreed with the notion.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they saw China as a source of unfair competition for American companies, while only a quarter viewed China positively as a huge potential market for US goods.

"That may be why 71 percent of Americans consider China an economic threat to the US," said CNN polling director Keating Holland. "Americans tend to view foreign countries as competition, and China is no exception."

"These are the only two countries in the world that are truly globally engaged, but they are not doing things together," he says.

Encouraging it to be more active on the global stage, in concert with America, is a strategy to nudge China towards being a responsible great power.

But Chinese leaders themselves, getting used to their new status in the world, are cautious.

"China is terribly conflicted internally about what kind of role it should have in the world," Mr Shambaugh says.