Informant38

Asia warms to China�s vigor
When Citibank was casting around for a brand-name speaker at its annual retreat here, the bank spurned the usual Western investors.
Instead, Citibank chose the Chinese ambassador, Lu Shumin, one of a new generation of diplomats from Beijing who speak flawless English and play a mean game of golf.
The envoy's presentation was relentlessly upbeat: What Southeast Asia sells, China buys. Oil, natural gas and aluminum to build bigger bridges, taller buildings, faster railroads to serve the country's flourishing cities like Shanghai. Palm oil for frying all that food for the swelling middle class, even eggs from faraway New Zealand, on the region's southern periphery. China's buying spree and voracious markets provide the underpinning, he said, for the peaceful coexistence that everyone wants.

Contrast this with the dour message from the United States.

Congratulations, said President George W. Bush to the Indonesians during his short stopover in October, for "hunting and finding dangerous killers."
Cannily, China has wasted little time in capitalizing on the U.S. preoccupation with the campaign on terror to greatly expand its influence in Asia. A new team of leaders in Beijing who came to power last spring - President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao - have led the charge, personally traveling in the region bearing sizable investments and diplomatic warmth.
In fact, some analysts say China may already have become Asia's leading power.
�IHT Dec.03.03