By selecting Beijing as the site for the 2008 Olympic Games, the governing committee has done the right thing. This gives Chinese leaders an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate they belong among the front ranks in global affairs, a chance that should - if authorities handle it properly - promote better understanding of China in the years just ahead.
The final choice was uncertain until late in the game, despite all the talk of China being the odds-on favourite. The Government's repressive actions toward its own citizens who disagree with official policies aroused great opposition; critics claimed the country simply was not suited to host sports events intended to promote the highest human ideals.
In the end, however, other arguments, plus Beijing's skilful sales campaign, carried the day. The national rejoicing which followed, much of it spontaneous, shows how popular the selection is with ordinary people.
A majority of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members concluded China's turn had arrived. They accepted the argument that the world's most populous nation, a medals-winning powerhouse in recent Games, was overdue for the host role. The selection is a tribute to the Chinese nation and its people.
Communist Party officials will hail the choice as an endorsement of their own leadership and policies, a sign of global approval. However, that it is not. The only factor which made the outcome uncertain, and prevented a walkover victory from the first, is widespread opposition to certain official mainland practices.
These include systematic and sometimes brutal suppression of dissent, and of groups like the Falun Gong which refuse to come under party control. These old habits fuelled the only effective opposition to the selection of Beijing.