Power appears to be a simple concept.
It is measured by the capacity to extract an outcome to one s favor. By this measure, wealth would translate into power, the commonsensical logic being that wealth can be employed to buy favors, elicit patronage and command allegiance, all of which are commodities that a state can provide. In other words, when used instrumentally, wealth can skew political priority to one s favor. It can influence what political scientist David Easton called the authoritative allocation of values. The overseas Chinese are obviously wealthy.