ABSTRACT
China's financial power has been thrown into sharp relief by the economic crisis. Its regional ambitions in the political, military and economic fields are substantial, and its ability to woo regional favour is considerable, given the weight it carries. In areas where US strategic interests are more intense and challenged, the administration is evidently seeking to build coalitions of the relevant to advance shared interests. Raw nerves are most dangerous perhaps in the Middle East, and balancing progress on the Arab-Palestinian front with advances on the Iranian issue requires imagination. Moving into 2010, many of the ambitious foreign-policy agendas and practices established by Western powers in the previous decade and a half appear in retreat. The intellectual habit in the West has recently become to align national or alliance strategic interests with the delivery of a global public good.
