After reviewing other threads on China in South Asia and the South China Sea dispute I came across this on the Lowry Institute's emailing; the commentary started on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, so posted in a seperate thread.

At the end is a stunning insight, what does SWC think? The author is an IISS analyst and has been in China studying the language for three years now, so may have passed the 'Ken White' how do you understand them test!

China is the world's foremost rising power and her influence will be felt wherever she pops up. As we sat down to a sumptuous meal around a large garlanded table after our discussion, our new Chinese friends gave us no sense of having really thought through the implications of what their newfound accidental influence means.

The impression was rather that China is stumbling onto power it does not want, and with which it doesn't know what to do.
Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...-its-role.aspx