'Quad' coalition a recipe for friction

Editor's Note: On Feb 18, a nascent joint regional infrastructure project among the United States, Japan, Australia and India was cited as an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative. However, before his visit to the US from Feb 21 to 24, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said China posed no threat to Australia. Two Chinese experts share their views on China's relations with the "quadrilateral coalition" with China Daily's Pan Yixuan. Excerpts follow:

New mechanism comes with challenges

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, his administration has aggressively followed the "America First" policy. The US has withdrawn from several multilateral mechanisms and is making greater efforts to promote bilateral trade - as opposed to multilateral trade - as it involves less responsibility and higher profits. With such benefits in mind, Trump pulled out from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in which the US accounted for about 60 percent of the combined GDP of the 12 members.