Fatigue is rewriting the US-China soft power contest, starting in Asean
South China Morning Post
by Samer Elhajjar ,Niraj DawarMarch 4, 2026
For years, debates about US-China competition have defaulted to the obvious categories: ships, chips, tariffs and security pacts. Soft power was often treated as America’s home turf, the domain of Hollywood, top universities, global brands and a political ideal that still attracts even when it disappoints.
That assumption is getting riskier.
The world has entered a new emotional weather pattern: fatigue. It’s a structural condition shaped by overlapping shocks: pandemic after-effects, inflation...
Verticals
worldasia
Originally published on South China Morning Post on 3/4/2026