In his fortnightly column on livemint.com, EWI Vice President, W. Pal Sidhu analyzes four recent global developments—Google’s relationship with China, the earthquake in Haiti, a Chinese missile defense test and China’s growing economy—and their implications for China’s role as an emerging world leader.

The China-Google fallout, Sidhu suggests, exposes differences about human rights and national sovereignty. But, he writes, “the more relevant issue here is the lack of international norms related to the abuse of the cyber sphere.” The hope is that, along with the U.N., major countries and players within the cyber sphere will combine forces to “set norms and best practices” for cybersecurity.

China’s proactive role in relief for Haiti shows the country’s leadership in humanitarian affairs. But some are apprehensive even about this welcome new role. “The potential military import of China’s ability to deploy a rescue team halfway around the world and in the backyard of the US even without a strategic airlift capability was not lost on strategic experts, particularly in the U.S.,” Sidhu writes.

China’s involvement in Haiti’s rescue efforts shows its “growing role as a responsible international actor, despite being a relative newcomer to international peacekeeping.” But its recent test of ground-based mid-course missile interception technology sends the opposite message. “Since such tests are often used to signal political displeasure,” Sidhu writes, “its timing soon after the US announcement that it would supply Taiwan with a sophisticated missile defense system might not be just a coincidence.”

Finally, China’s economic growth by 8.7% in 2009 makes China’s economy one of the largest in the world on course to surpass Japan’s possibly within the year. “A stronger economy has also translated into greater military might, evident in the fact that China’s defense budget is now the largest after the US.”

“All of these disparate issues underline the growing significance of China as an international actor in almost every area of human endeavor,” Sidhu concludes. “They also reflect two divergent trends in China—one confrontational and the other cooperative. The challenge for the international community, including India, will be to constructively engage China to encourage the latter trend through bilateral, regional, plurilateral and multilateral efforts while discouraging the former impulse.”

Click here to read Sidhu’s article on livemint.com