While Putin was busy laying the groundwork for another major commodity gas pipeline expansion project, one that would make China the largest natural gas client of Gazprom, surpassing Europe and fully concluding Russia’s pivot from west to east, US president Obama had slightly less lofty ambitions out of the annual APEC summit in Beijing: coordinating with China’s leader Xi Jinping on how to best avoid war, or as the WSJ phrased it “military confrontations.” So in order to prevent military conflict in the coming years, China and the US have penned two deals.