China
In the past month, China has stepped up its war of words with Japan over disputed islands lying between the two; shut down any rumours that it would inaugurate a new, softer approach towards the Dalai Lama and Tibet, and essentially rejected any efforts by the US and other countries to address allegations of Chinese state-sponsored hacking and cyber-espionage. When the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, met the US president, Barack Obama, at a summit in the United States, he acted exactly as if they were equals.
What's more, even with a slightly slowing economy, China still has vast sums to distribute as aid in the developing world, support its state companies spreading across the globe, and help build infrastructure everywhere from Thailand to Trinidad.
China retains the world's largest reserves of US treasuries, and still runs massive trade surpluses with much of the world. During a trip in the spring to Beijing, Cambodian leader Hun Sen, whom China has cultivated assiduously over the past decade, picked up US$2 billion (Dh7.3bn) in new loans and grants. In June, during a trip to Latin America, president Xi announced $3 billion in Chinese loans and other aid for Latin and Caribbean countries.
When top US officials, including the vice-president, Joseph Biden, had visited Latin America just before Mr Xi, they handed out no new money and launched no new programmes.
In addition, China continues to boost the number of foreign officials it trains, mostly from developing nations, who come to Chinese research institutes, universities, and Party schools to study China's development strategy.
Many go home amazed by China's model of growth, and vowing to implement elements of it back in their countries. As Beijing engineers a mild economic cooling while averting a meltdown, it may attract even more foreign officials to come to study its management - only adding to China's global influence.
Joshua Kurlantzick is fellow for South-east Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government.