Can’t buy me soft power

THE tentacles of Chinese demand now reach into every corner of Asia. The incongruously lavish swallow-houses in remote Indonesian villages, supplying birds’ nests for Chinese soups; the casinos of Singapore; the Indian poultry farms now finding a market for once-discarded chicken’s feet; the vast mines ripping open the Australian Pilbara and the Mongolian Gobi. China matters to its region not just as a market but as exporter, investor, contractor and source of governmental largesse.

Yet China’s economic power and the many positive ways its economy influences the region have not brought diplomatic advantage. Indeed, its regional relations are in a worse state than for two decades. With Japan they remain so fraught over the contested Diaoyu/Senkaku islands that armed conflict is a serious possibility. In South-East Asia, ties have deteriorated over disputes in the South China Sea. Myanmar, after two decades of intensifying friendship with China, is now tilting westwards to reduce its dependence. Relations with India remain marked by mutual distrust, despite a rapid rise in commercial links.