Have China-U.S. relations become more constructive or have they deteriorated? As the year comes to its end, the question haunts everyone who follows the interactions of the world's top two economies.

In brief, China-U.S. relations have maintained stable in 2015, but are visibly complicated. In retrospect, bilateral relations can be generally divided into three phases:

In the first half of the year, despite the fact that the two governments had announced Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States seven months earlier, it did not prevent controversial issues from coming to a boil. The Obama administration attempted to thwart the creation of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) due to heavy skepticism about China's intentions, and in the meantime gave full support to Japan lifting the ban on its right to collective self-defense. The voices in America advocating the "containment of China" rose in number and in volume.

From June to October, in spite of their sharp disagreements, China and the United States carried out intensive interaction and coordinated their interests. In September, President Xi paid his first state visit to the United States since coming to office, which was seen as a success both at home and abroad. The mutual wish for cooperation and conciliation was sincere.

Then in the last three months, the two countries forged ahead implementing agreements achieved during President Xi's visit. They reached consensus on a range of important issues including trade and cybersecurity, as well as making progress in global affairs, such as redoubling their commitments to combating climate change ahead of the Paris conference. However, sensitive issues concerning the South China Sea, human rights, and Taiwan are still prominent in the relationship with sharp divergence between the two nations. On December 16, the Obama administration authorized a $1.83 billion weapons sale to Taiwan despite strong opposition from the Chinese Government. Beijing then announced sanctions on the companies involved in the arms sale. It is a pity that the China-U.S. relationship in 2015 has to end like this.

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