Waning influence to China's benefit. Analysts have stated that Japan's influence is inexorably waning as its economic power declines. Prime minister Naoto Kan chaired the economic Asia-Pacific Economic Forum on the 13th and 14th of November in Yokohama, attended by US president Barack Obama and his Russian and Chinese counterparts Dmitri Medvedev and Hu Jintaoi. This diplomatic success, however, does not conceal the catastrophic balance sheet of the 14 months spent in power by his centre-left party. This tenure has been marked by tension with China, Russia and even the US. Japan's decline is symbolised by the very sharp decrease in its foreign aid, due to two decades of economic ill-health. In the 1990s, Japan was the biggest provider of aid. It has now fallen to fifth-place and has reduced its donations and loans by 40%. Kan recognised that his country was no longer “an overwhelming economic power”. In addition to colossal debt, a fragile economic recovery and an ageing population, Japan is now having to confront China's thrusting economic confidence. (I.L./transl.fl)