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China is well placed to withstand coercive US economic policies. It is successfully positioning itself as a reliable partner amid uncertainty about the US approach to Asia.
Susannah Patton
Susannah Patton is Director, Asia Engagement at RMIT and a Nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute.
Jack Sato
Jack Sato is a Data Analyst for the Asia Power Index at the Lowy Institute.
Topics
Beijing appears well placed to weather the current geopolitical environment and withstand coercive US economic policies. It ranks first for geoeconomic security and slightly improved its score for this sub-measure in 2025. This relative security, which reflects China’s ability to access multiple global markets beyond the United States for its exports, may have contributed to China’s robust and confident response to the imposition of US tariffs. Beijing chose to impose retaliatory tariffs and tighten export controls on critical minerals rather than immediately seek a negotiated outcome, as other countries in Asia chose to do.
China has also been the beneficiary of doubts about the Trump administration's diplomacy in Asia. It recorded the highest-ever diplomatic influence score of any country, ranking top for the regional and global leadership indicators for the first time since the inception of the Asia Power Index. This result reflects China’s energetic and consistent diplomacy, which has included a threecountry visit to Southeast Asia by President Xi Jinping, attendance at a special ASEAN–Gulf Cooperation Council–China summit in Malaysia, and extensive diplomacy associated with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and 2025 Victory Day Parade.
In its diplomacy, China has sought to portray itself as a stable and reliable partner, opposing unilateralism and protectionism, a contrast with more overtly confrontational diplomacy in the past. Notably, experts responding to our survey positively appraised the improving quality of China’s diplomatic service.
However, the Asia Power Index also suggests limits to China’s economic relationships in Asia, a measure for which it recorded a small decline in 2025. While China grew strongly in terms of “regional selling power” — the average share of imports from China in each of the other 26 Index countries — it declined in terms of “buying power” — the average share of exports it takes from Index countries. This trend reflects Beijing’s limited capacity to offer practical support to Asian countries affected by US tariffs; it will prioritise finding markets for its own products above offering its own market to others.
China has nearly returned to pre-pandemic scores for its people exchanges and connectivity with Asia Power Index countries. China’s score for these sub-measures fell precipitously when travel to and from China was heavily restricted between 2020 and 2022. In 2025, China made strong gains in every indicator for people exchanges, including as a destination for tourism from Asia, a trend that will likely continue with the recent announcement of new visa-free pathways for travel from several countries in Asia, including Indonesia.
China’s score for connectivity, a sub-measure assessing economies’ global connections, improved slightly in 2025. But it is yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, in part because investment inflows into China continue to remain lower, a result of business uncertainty about the trajectory of economic relations between the United States and China.
