As Western governments consider placing sanctions on Kenyan leader Mwai Kibaki and his ministers for refusing to negotiate over the disputed elections, Asian states have maintained a near deafening silence on the crisis. It seems that Kibaki’s courting of China – he visited President Hu Jintao in 2005 and the following year hosted the Chinese President in Nairobi – has helped to break the West’s grip over Kenya’s foreign and economic policy options.