It's a subtle influence, but it's important".
"It's a subtle influence at work," he said.
But it is that kind of subtle influence that has some people concerned.
The question now is how close China is again to giving up on subtle influence.
They prefer people who can exert subtle influence within teams, in organisations that have fewer levels of formal hierarchy.
Australia's subtle influence as a middle-strength power relies on maintaining key relationships that are dutifully cultivated.
But more junior diplomats told me the security officers exercised a subtle influence on all kinds of decisions.
They are "transactions" between author and subject, "a special, artificial exercise of subtle influence and counterinfluence, with an implicit antagonistic tendency".
Mr. Finch does not claim a prominent role for Mr. Close in recent art, but rather a "subtle" influence on art history.
Its tight grain has a more subtle influence on the wine than looser-grained oak, adding elegance and refinement rather than obvious oaky flavors.
Katharine Hepburn, who died on Sunday at the age of 96, had an oddly subtle influence on women, one that has been felt, perhaps most keenly by moviegoers, well into the present day.
