Today marks the end of Clinton's Asia tour, which ended with a two-day visit in Beijing. Where I was previously skeptical over the direction in which Clinton's visit might move U.S.-China relations - given especially her earlier biting denunciations of China's human rights record and general Chinese suspicion of Clinton herself - it appears that she may have done America proud:
Mrs Clinton was careful to demonstrate concern for human rights, visiting a church on Sunday morning and holding a session with a group of prominent women. But by signaling before she arrived that human rights “cannot interfere” with economic and diplomatic priorities, she told China’s leaders what they wanted to hear – that whatever gets said about China on the campaign trail, Washington believes the relationship between the two countries is too important to jeopardise.
Now that's what I call 'smart power.'
For the full story, see Sunday's issue of the FT.