China has picked the wrong side to support in the Syrian deadlock. Over the weekend, the U.N. General Assembly voted, 133 to 12, for a resolution that condemned the violence in Syria and called for a “political transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.”

Only four years ago, Beijing played host to the Summer Olympics and amazed the world with its modernity and sophistication. The event was widely seen as China's coming out party and signaled its readiness to become a major world power.

Having overtaken the United States as Africa's biggest trading partner two years ago, China is continuing to cement its relationship with the continent, with President Hu Jintao pledging US$20 billion in loans over the next three years at a meeting in Beijing attended by leaders from 50 African countries.

Once again, the Roman Catholic Church is in conflict with the Communist Party of China, with the newly ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai having publicly repudiated the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which was established by the Chinese government to exercise supervision over the nation's Catholics.

The sight evokes a feeling of shock and disbelief. There, down the side of the old Bank of China building in Hong Kong, hangs a huge red banner, just like during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, when China sought to be the leader of world revolution.

The installation of Leung Chun-ying on Sunday morning as Hong Kong's third leader since the 1997 handover was followed that afternoon by tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets calling on him to step down.

Five months ago, Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau, spurred on by data released by the United States Embassy, adopted tightened standards and began disseminating information on extremely fine particles in the air capable of penetrating deeply into the lungs — particles that have been linked to respiratory diseases and lung cancer.

“Stability is of overriding importance” was a phrase used by Deng Xiaoping many times in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square military crackdown in 1989. The then paramount leader felt that China's top priority was economic development, and that nothing should be allowed to get in the way.

When Barack Obama visited China in 2009, the U.S. leader made it a point to publicly declare himself “a big supporter of non-censorship” and said that criticism made him a better president.

All signs are that president Ma Ying-jeou's second term, which began May 20, will continue to see a strengthening of cross-strait economic relations but political talks between the two sides, even if they are held, are unlikely to be productive.