KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 ― China has been left powerless in the search for Malaysian Airlines flight 370 which is still missing after nearly two months, bruising  its stature as a global superpower.

According to an opinion piece carried by Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP), China has been consistently been sidelined in the multinational search, while its intelligence, military and technological resources proved inadequate compared to those of United States.

“From a diplomatic standpoint, China appears to have little leverage to deal with Malaysia, a comparatively small nation,” wrote Liang Pan, a New York-based freelance writer.

Pan alleged that China could not act against Malaysia even when the latter’s officials released ambiguous and contradictory information.

The best China could do to show its displeasure, he said, was delay the delivery of two pandas previously promised to mark the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.

“As the hunt for Flight 370 goes on, so China's hard and soft powers continue to be tested,” said the SCMP article.

“So far, they have been found wanting; the best that can be said is that China has played the role of a regional power.”

According to Pan, China had only played a peripheral role in the search, despite the area where the jetliner were reported missing ― South China Sea and then Indian Ocean ― are considered “China’s backyard”.

China’s intelligence resources were ignored, with the bulk of the work done by Interpol and the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“The search operation has put China's military preparedness and power projection ability to the test,” it added, noting that China could not keep up with the shifting areas of search despite contributing 18 vessels, eight helicopters and three planes.

In comparison, the US naval forces seemed prepared, with its network of military bases in the region, including in Thailand and Singapore.

The article also noted that the search had advanced thanks to satellite data from British firm Inmarsat, while China’s satellites were unable to keep track of global civil aviation movements.

In addition, the underwater search now is being done by US’ underwater robot Bluefin-21, compared to China’s manned submarine Jiaolong, which is unable to survey a large area of the ocean floor despite being able to go 7,000m deep.

Pan also criticised China’s media for its lagging coverage of major news on MH370.

Yesterday, Putrajaya issued the preliminary report on MH370 that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak pledged to release last week, and accompanied it with the cargo manifest and audio recordings to radio transmissions from the missing flight.

Searchers scouring the vast swathes of the remote Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth in Australia have yet to find any evidence of MH370, and have begun scaling back the search for the plane that has been missing for nearly two months.