5 reasons China has no friends

In 2010, then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a gathering of Asian countries that the United States “has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia’s maritime commons, and respect for international law in the South China Sea.” 

To China, those were fighting words. But surprisingly, no country came to its defense. Instead, 12 of China’s neighbors issued statements in support of Clinton’s position. Incensed, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi declared “China is a big country, and other countries are small countries, and that is just a fact.”