For three decades after 1971, when the People’s Republic of China took over the country’s United Nations seat from Taiwan, China’s presence as a permanent member of the UN Security Council was little more than an historical anomaly arising from the second world war: post-war China had neither the power nor the inclination to play an important role at the top table of international diplomacy.
In 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, it is safe to say that China’s actual power, and its willingness to deploy that power, are finally a match for its elevated diplomatic status.
