US stands tall as Asia's most powerful country despite rising China

The United States is still the most powerful nation in the Asia region in spite of a rising challenge from China, a new ranking by an Australian think tank has found. The inaugural Asian Power Index, published Tuesday by Sydney's Lowy Institute, ranked 25 nations in the Asia Pacific region and scored them on their level of influence.Among the factors taken into account by Lowy Institute researchers were each country's economic, military and diplomatic relations as well as their "future trends," or how strong they're likely to be by 2030.The eight main rankings by which each country is measured are defense networks, military capability, cultural influence, diplomatic influence, economic resources, economic relationships, resilience and future trends.While the United States comes in at the top spot in 2018, project director Herve Lemahieu said China could overtake it in coming years amid threats of disengagement from the Asia region by the Trump administration."If there's a general retrenchment or a loss of confidence in the US and its ability to underline security for its allies in the region, then you will see a weakening in that defense network score," he told CNN."If you see that measure starting to dissolve in coming years ... you could see a radical redefinition in the balance of power in Asia."Here are the three most surprising parts of Tuesday's report.