China is bounding into the year of the tiger with a sense of self-confidence it has never felt before, secure in the belief that its rise is inexorable and that its voice, and soon its power, will extend into every corner of the earth. This month, statistics showed that China overtook Germany as the world's largest exporter in 2009, confirming its growing economic clout.
And, in the waning days of the year of the ox, the Chinese government seemingly thumbed its nose at the West and its preoccupation with human rights.
In November, website editor Huang Qi was sentenced to three years in prison for 'illegal possession of state secrets'. Last week, Tan Zuoren, an activist who publicly blamed shoddy buildings for the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, was sentenced to five years for 'incitement to subversion' and, last Thursday, dissident Liu Xiaobo's appeal against an 11-year sentence, also for subversion, was rejected.
It is easy to see why the Chinese government is feeling its oats. Its standing in the world has never been higher, having been propelled upwards by the same financial crisis that brought the West down lower. As China looks around the world, it sees the United States in decline with a young president unable to implement his agenda, and a Europe in disarray and unable to speak with one voice where foreign policy is concerned.
Japan, which just managed to hold onto its position in front of a surging China as the world's second-largest economy, has a new government that is already beset by a scandal involving the ruling party's secretary general.
The Chinese media has been talking about the crisis in global capitalism. China itself continues to tell all and sundry that it will never be a hegemon. But, especially in its Asian neighbourhood, such protestations are often dismissed out of hand.
President Barack Obama has said that the US will get tougher with China on trade and currency issues, but Beijing is still unrelenting in its denunciation of Washington for its latest arms package for Taiwan and for Obama's decision to meet the Dalai Lama tomorrow.