They're so helpful, aren't they? Willing to take in blind dissidents or runaway policemen, without a thought for themselves. Keen to offer endless advice on economic management, even though most of it doesn't work. And always enthusiastic to make friends with the neighbours, and not just the troublesome ones.
Since US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton laid out her new foreign policy agenda at the end of last year, America's diplomats and politicians have been stomping across Asia like bulls clattering through a porcelain factory.
This is to be 'America's Pacific Century', says Clinton, throwing down the gauntlet to Beijing. As relations between China and America have shifted, it has become clear how much there is to play for. At stake is not just a power play on the world's stage for political influence and military reach. There is also rivalry for resources, as demand for the world's oil, water, copper, zinc and many other raw materials begins to exceed supply.
Even more vital, America's posturing in Asia is about political and economic ideology. 'The future of politics will be decided in Asia,' Clinton said in a speech last November, promising that 'the United States will be right at the centre of the action'. The battle is not just about who runs the world, but how they choose to run it.
After years of being shunned, Myanmar is suddenly in play, with the promise of sanctions being lifted as long as the generals change course and opt for the free-market, democratic model. This change has little to do with America wanting to shine a beacon of freedom into the dark Myanmese undergrowth, however. It is mainly about muddying China's geopolitical waters. China has been building vital strategic gas and oil pipelines across Myanmar to Yunnan. It has gained access to many of Myanmar's resources and won contracts to build dams and other infrastructure projects. All these plans are now in jeopardy.
Similarly, America's diplomats have been only too happy to offer temporary sanctuary to Bo Xilai's renegade police chief, Wang Lijun, and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng .
America's military have merrily carried out manoeuvres with the Philippines, strengthened ties with Vietnam, announced a new base in Australia and talked of selling their latest weapons technology to Taiwan.