Richard Javad Heydarian, political science professor at De La Salle University. [File Photo]

Richard Javad Heydarian, political science professor at De La Salle University, in the Philippines, and the author of Asia's New Battlefield: US, China, and the Struggle for Western Pacific.

The Xi-Obama summit is expected to focus largely on areas of common concern – rather than divergence and disagreement – for the two powers. Major topics such as cyber-security to trade and investments and climate change as well as nuclear non-proliferation and counter-terrorism will all be discussed.

Cybersecurity, in particular, is poised to become a key sticking point, given the growing international concern over the emerging threats to the global cyber infrastructure. Tthe continued absence of agreed-upon rules of the game in the realm of cyber-competition, as great and smaller powers rapidly develop their cyber-capabilities.