After respectfully bowing to the emperor of Japan last week, President Obama travelled on to China where both countries agreed that "the fundamental principle of respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity" was at the core of China-US relations.

Obama is big on respect. Speaking to the Muslim world in his inaugural address, he promised to "seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect", and in his Cairo speech last June the president used the word "respect" no fewer than 10 times.

But developing a foreign policy based on "mutual respect" is not without problems ... Read more at Comment Is Free