中国媒体博克

Global Energy Security posted a very nice article by Rowan Callik in The Australian. It covers Asian regionalism, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and China's "Charm Offensive" of recent years that has ingratiated the Middle Kingdom with the international community.

The bottom line is that China has become a very strong regional power, mostly because of its economic clout. Its diplomats are quite adroit at adopting neutral positions on contentious issues, steering clear of the kind of idealist quicksand that is suffocating the U.S. right now. Modern China has almost always adopted realist positions, all the way back to its dealings with the USSR in the 1950s, and then certainly in the 1970s when Mao and Nixon, two very talented realists, got on the same page.

Definitely worth a read. One more thing to note. The article does not contain any criticism of U.S. diplomacy, but it should be said that one of the reasons that it appears as though the U.S. is being shut out of some of these regional bodies is that is has failed to put in the time and effort to stay connected. When was the last time the U.S. sent someone of consequence to an ASEAN meeting? The U.S. would rather protest Burma than take advantage of an important opportunity. Let's not even mention APAC, or whatever is left of that organization these days.