New power shift as defiant China asserts role in global affairs

The symbolism of Beijing dispatching its second top leader for celebrations with the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il almost at the same time as Washington was deciding to break a tradition by refusing the Dalai Lama a meeting with the US President, has not been lost on observers keen to glimpse ever more signs of China’s rise.

It is the first time in 18 years that the Dalai Lama has not been awarded his meeting with the US President - undoubtedly a powerful symbolic precedent,” said a commentary in the ‘Nanfang Daily’.

It is all due to China’s rising role in global affairs,” the commentary went further.

“The world needs China more and more and the United States — if it wants to exercise its leverage — needs China too. Compared to this, Dalai Lama’s begging around the world seems much less important.”

Observers say US President Barack Obama needs to secure China’s support on a range of critical international issues, including resolving North Korea’s nuclear threat.

Travelling to Beijing in November for his first state visit to the communist state, he is said to have preferred postponing meeting Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader until after his talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Beijing has long decried the Dalai Lama’s tours of world capitals, promoting Tibet’s independence cause.

Ironically, as much as the United States was seen kowtowing to Beijing in this sensitive time ahead of Obama’s China visit, Beijing had been depicted as standing by its long-term friend and daring to defy international opinion.

The day after China stirred sentiments with its impressive show of military power at the 60th anniversary of the founding of the communist republic, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao flew to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

He attended lavish celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

His visit was full of symbolic activities, underscoring the long friendship between the two neighbours, once close ideological allies.

Wen paid tribute to the Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War at a cemetery east of Pyongyang, rekindling memories of the conflict with the United States, which saw China going to extraordinary lengths to back its communist neighbour.

Chinese web users generated scores of postings supporting Wen’s visit to the North.

“It must be a huge encouragement for North Korea that, when the whole world is isolating them, our premier is there to give them hope,” said one comment on the popular Internet forum ‘Tianya’.

What is more, Wen Jiabao promised the North’s reclusive leader aid and further political support in the international arena.