Tuesday 16 March 2010


CAN THE U.S. TAKE ON CHINA IN ASIA?

Peh Shing Huei

The China Post, March 16, 2010

When U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) last year, "We're back," it was a clear signal that the Americans were looking to challenge China's rising influence in South-east Asia.

During the years the Bush administration left Asean on the far outfield of United States diplomacy, with Mrs. Clinton's predecessor Condoleezza Rice skipping Asean summits twice in three years, Beijing nudged its way to the centre stage.

Trade boomed. Confucius Institutes mushroomed. Generous aid was doled out by the Chinese government.

The prospect of a symbiotic "Chinasean" relationship seemed more likely than the other Sino-related diplomatic neologisms that mushroomed, from "Chimerica" (China + America) to "Chafrica" (China + Africa).

The question is this: Does the U.S. have the stamina and strength to take on Beijing?

(...) [artículo aquí]

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