Can the U.S. take on China in 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?

China worked hard to charm Asean during the years the U.S. was preoccupied fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. China-Asean trade leapt nearly fourfold, from US$45.5 billion in 2001 to US$193 billion in 2008, culminating in the landmark China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) which came into effect on Jan 1.

China also offered a total of US$25 billion in aid to Asean nations last year and pressed the right diplomatic buttons by blessing the 10-member grouping taking the lead in regional organizations, such as the East Asia Summit.

Beijing has also been flexing its “soft power” — by, among other things, offering scholarships to Asean students. It is estimated that there are some 10,000 Thai students in China now, more than in the U.S., according to Asia Times.

And unlike Washington, which has put sporadic pressure on Asean to boot out the military-run Myanmar from the grouping, Beijing counts the regime as one of its allies. The principle of non-interference that Asean holds dear is in tune with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) beliefs. As the CCP's second-ranking leader Wu Bangguo reiterated earlier last week, disagreements between countries should not become a pretext for interference.

Geography leans in favor of China too, given that it shares a border with Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, proximity adding to the gravitational pull of the behemoth.

Yet geography could also very well be China's weak link, for proximity can also cause tensions, presenting an opening for the U.S. to come back in.

The current extremely low water level of the Mekong River, for example, has been blamed on China. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have fingered China-based dams as the chief cause of their woes.

Hanoi is also increasingly annoyed at China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. The Chinese announced at the turn of the year that they plan to turn the disputed Paracel islands into a top-class tourist destination.

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