John Kerry's moment in Asia

New US Secretary of State John Kerry recognizes the importance of China and Asia. And though he will not seek to dramatically change the direction of US foreign policy, he has already started directing it in a tone and style very different from that of his predecessor Hillary Clinton. This, in all likelihood, will prove to be much more than superficial window-dressing.

Clinton always spoke with a unipolar voice and never appeared interested in the answers she got. Kerry understands the true multipolar nature of the 21st century world. He listens to the answers he gets.

The life-defining experiences of Kerry are a marked contrast to those of Clinton. She was a lifelong ideological politician focused on women's rights and social issues within the United States. Domestic American perspectives and priorities always conditioned the way she saw the wider world.

Kerry, in contrast, served with distinction as a young US Navy officer during the Vietnam War. He followed this with a highly successful career in the US foreign service and then, in his long career in the US Senate, became its foremost expert on Asian diplomatic issues.

Unlike Clinton, Kerry made his first overseas trip as US secretary of state to Europe and the Middle East. This does not mean he will openly or deliberately abandon Clinton's "pivot to Asia" policy. Kerry understands better than any other senior American politician of his generation the leading role of Asia in the modern world. He understands and respects the major political cultures of Asia. There is, therefore, an excellent chance of Sino-US ties improving significantly during his term of office.

That Kerry recognizes the central role of China in Asian security issues was more than evident when he emphasized that Beijing's cooperation was needed to rein in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un.

Kerry's immediate priority is obviously to defuse the DPRK nuclear issue. But he also recognizes the central importance of the US' economic relationship with China. And although he may not abandon traditional US concerns on promotion of democracy and human rights issues, he will express them in talks privately and quietly, without trying to embarrass or undermine his interlocutors.

Some critics have questioned Kerry's power within the Obama administration. They should not. Kerry, like Clinton before him, will be the "vicar" of US foreign policy, the unchallenged chief advisor to the president on all foreign policy issues. He will not be challenged by the Pentagon and the secretary of defense and undermined by them, which was the fate former secretary of state Colin Powell suffered in the first George W. Bush administration.