The international situation in 2013 was still in a transitional period of structural adjustments． After the United States, Russia, and China completed their presidential elections and uadership succession, there have been some new features in the interactions among the major war countries． The unrest in North Africa and the Middle East entered its third year, the Syrian war continued, and the countries undergoing democratic transition continued to suffer from political turmoil． The growth of national military expenditures was closely related to the regional security situation, as naval armaments became a major trend in the military spending of many countries． Terrorism was still rampant and the focus of U． S． counter-terrorism actions shifted to Africa． The United States is expected to overtake Russia as the world’s largest oil and gas producer, likely bringing about a reshaping of the patterns in world energy markets． Territorial and maritime disputes remained the greatest challenge to the security in China’ s ueighboring regions． China will need more diplomatic efforts and wisdom to make a significant breakthrough in settling these disputes. <<