Report: China enjoys top-two placements in all but two of the API measure rankings

China remains a strong military and economic power in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the latest survey by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.

The think tank's latest edition of its Asia Power Index, or API, which was launched in 2018, measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia.

This year's annual survey gave China "top-two placements in all but two of the measure rankings".

The API ranks 26 countries and territories for their capacity to shape their external environment, taking in nations ranging from Pakistan and Russia to Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Despite a fall of 1.5 points on the previous year in its overall 2021 score, China's power differential over the rest of the region has not been undermined, the survey said, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on most countries.

It puts China slightly behind the United States in terms of comprehensive power in the region.

According to the Lowy Institute, the 2021 edition is the most comprehensive assessment of the changing distribution of power in Asia to date.

"Among other things, it (the Index) aims to sharpen the debate on the near- and long-term geopolitical consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region," the independent foreign affairs think tank said.

"The results emphasise the narrow but deep foundations on which China's power is built. The country is virtually on par with the United States for its economic capability but is vastly ahead in terms of its regional economic relationships," it said.

According to the report, trade volumes between China and the region are nearly three times that between the US and the region. China has also become the primary foreign investor in as many countries in the Indo-Pacific as Japan and the US combined. 

"The ability to physically connect and shape the choices of countries through economic interdependencies forms the bedrock of Chinese comprehensive power, just as US defence partnerships are the mainstay of US military power," it said.

Lowy said in its analysis that "Beijing does not only depend on economic statecraft to advance its objectives. It has also made good use of its increasing military strength".

As Beijing downsizes and professionalises the PLA's armed forces, it has expanded the country's nuclear deterrent and developed advanced weapons, it noted.

"The net result is that, although China's score for overall military capability is unchanged from last year, it has gained ground on the United States in 2021 by narrowing the gap in the Index's sub-measure for signature capabilities."

China's biggest gain in 2021 was in the resilience measure, which assesses the capacity of a country to deter external threats to state stability. 

Lowy found that the world's largest trading nation is becoming less dependent on its leading trade partners — the European Union and the US — "as it shifts to a domestic consumption model".

With the onset of COVID-19, an emphasis on economic self-sufficiency and geoeconomic security had become part of a much broader inward turn. 

This shift has affected China's relative advantages elsewhere, the report said.

"In 2019, for instance, China benefited from more arrivals of non-resident visitors from the region than any other country, including business travellers, tourists and students. But in response to the pandemic, China has installed one of the world's strictest systems of border control and quarantine. 

"This has significantly disrupted international travel to and from China with a pronounced knock-on effect on people-to-people links with the region — a key driver in the country's cultural influence."

According to the findings, China's inward turn "appears also to have depressed its diplomatic influence". 

"Beijing's pole position in that measure has been very narrowly overtaken by the United States in 2021," the report said.