Chinese President Hu to Meet With President Obama

BEIJING, Jan. 17, 2011 -- When President Hu meets with President Obama this week, it will be the first time the leaders meet as representatives of the two largest economies in the world.

And you can be pretty sure that the visit will look very different from Hu's last visit in 2006, when he was given lunch instead of a state dinner.

It is impossible to ignore the fact that the balance of power has shifted in this relationship in the last few years, with China's growth surging in the double digits as the U.S. grapples with high unemployment, sluggish growth and an expensive war in Afghanistan.

The question is whether in light of this shift, China is growing more strident in dealing with the U.S. and in pursuing its national interests.

On the surface, it would appear so.

Last year, the world saw a China that was increasingly assertive in dealing with tensions with Japan in the South China Sea.

It saw a China that refused to condemn North Korea after civilians were killed in an attack on Yeonpeong Island. And it saw a China that brazenly tested a stealth fighter jet as the U.S. defense secretary stood next to its president.

At a forum on US-China relations Friday, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai did not deny that China's "national strength" has increased enormously and that China is more confident with its growing role on the world stage.

But he reminded the audience that while China has grown, it is still way behind the U.S. and he was emphatic that "China will never seek hegemony," evidence perhaps that the Communist Party is continuing to practice Deng Xiaoping's policy of humility and harmony in China's dealings with the U.S.

Last week's J-20 test, and the fact that China's president appeared to know nothing about it, threw out another wild card, what Secretary Gates categorized as the possibility of "a disconnect" between China's civilian and military leadership. If true, this could have troubling implications for US-Sino relations.

As Fareed Zakaria writes in Time magazine, "The Chinese military… seems to consider the US as China's sworn enemy and to believe that a conflict between Beijing and Washington is inevitable."