Measure
Snapshot
Ranked 2 of 26 for comprehensive power, with an overall score of 72.5 out of 100.
Lost 2.1 points (−3% change) in overall score in 2023.
Analysis
China is a superpower in Asia.
China’s score declined by 2.1 points relative to 2021, the largest drop in this edition of any Asia Power Index country.
China is the highest ranked country on two measures: economic relationships and diplomatic influence. China has consistently led the Index’s ranking for economic relationships, reflecting its strong trade and investment ties with other countries in the region.
China regained its top ranking for diplomatic influence in 2022, reflecting its extensive diplomatic engagement with Asia Power Index countries and more tempered expert views on the Biden administration’s regional engagement.
China’s weakest performance is in its defence networks, however it has continued to improve in this measure, rising to seventh place, as compared to 12th in 2018.
In 2022, the United States displaced China as the top ranked country for economic capability. This was caused by a large decline in China’s global connectivity as its zero-Covid policies continued to isolate it from the world. These policies also depressed China’s score for cultural influence, where it lost approximately 10.3 points.
China exerts slightly more influence in the region than expected given its available resources, as indicated by the country’s positive power gap score, though this power gap was smaller than in 2021.
Read more analysis in the Key Findings report. Explore further results in the Scoressection.
Annual changes
Bilateral Influence
Bilateral trade, current dollars (2020)
Countries that influenceChina
Globally, which countries does China do most of its tradewith?
Countries influenced byChina
Which countries in the region rely most on trade withChina?
