WHY did Hillary Clinton lose the race for the democratic presidential nomination? Simple. She had a plan A: to romp through initial primaries, and squash her opponents. But when plan A failed, she found she had no backup. Clinton failed to engage in strategic thinking in the biggest competition of her life, and it cost her.

All this made her a curious choice to become secretary of state.

The key to doing her new job well is to engage in long-term strategic thinking on major geopolitical challenges -- such as the US role in managing the rise of Asia.

Her recent trip there provides clues on how she'll manage this task. There's no doubt she did a competent job. Clinton followed the advice of her briefing books,

making Japan her first stop to reassure this insecure ally.

Then she went to Indonesia to rebuild America's image in the world’s most populous Islamic country. South Korea was an essential stop to send the usual tough signals to North Korea. And then came China, her most important destination.

All throughout she made no mistakes. She said and did the right things. In China she said, "We have to look inward for solutions, but we must also look to each other to take a leadership role to stabilise the world's economy and begin recovery. " This must have pleased her hosts.

Yet there's little evidence Clinton has engaged in any serious strategic thinking about US-China relations. If she had, she would have asked some big questions. Traditionally, relations between dominant and emerging powers have been tense.

This should have been the norm here too.

Yet China has emerged without alarm-ing Americans. That's close to a geopolitical miracle.

Beijing's strategy toward US is complex. Chinese leaders have consistently followed the advice to keep a low profile. Yet they have also created a balanced interdependence with US, reducing Washington's ability to pressure them.

China relies on America as a market for its manufactured products. And China has encouraged US to rely on it to fund its budget deficits. When Clinton said: "1 appreciate greatly the Chinese government's continuing confidence in US Treasuries," she validated China's strategy of buying US debt as a way to restrain America's freedom of movement.

It's hard to tell if US is pursuing a similarly coherent strategy toward China; instead there is a hodgepodge of policies. Wisely, the US has decided to help integrate China into the world economy. This policy has worked, leading Chinese society to open up considerably as a result.

The thousands of Chinese students in US universities have become major agents of change at home.

Yet Washington has demonstrated far less strategic thinking on a range of other issues, such as Iran, North Korea, Iraq and Sudan. The Chinese view such issues as parts of a whole, and constantly look

for trade-offs.

Hence they were happy to cooperate on North Korea and Iraq, for which they were rewarded when President Bush put significant pressure on Taiwan not to push for independence.

This was a major victory for China. Any objective balance sheet would show more gains for China than the US.. By cooperating selectively. China has thwarted the emergence of any US strategy to contain or prevent its rise.

So what should America's long-term strategy towards China look like? To start, Washington should revisit its assumptions. The Chinese Communist Party is not going to disappear like the Soviet Union, as many US policymakers privately hope.

Thus, Washington should focus on integrating China even more into the international system and abandon policies China perceives as destabilising, like support for the Dalai Lama or criticism of China's human-rights violations.

Thus, Clinton still needs a big-picture view of the world's largest nation. If she fails to think strategically, the result will ^ be an even stronger China. If she succeeds, China may turn out just as strong -- but become a much more cooperative and restrained partner.

Mahbubani is Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Po;cy, National University of Singapore.

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