Forty years ago this month, Japan and China established diplomatic relations. However, the two countries are clearly in no mood to celebrate because of heated territorial disputes over tiny uninhabited islands, called the Senkakus by Japan and the Diaoyus by China. They are under Japanese control but claimed by Beijing.

I love history. So when I was offered a chance to write a piece on the 60th anniversary of the founding of The China Post, I jumped at it.

When Hillary Clinton spoke about America's “pivot” to Asia last year, she described alliances with Japan, South Korea and other countries as the “fulcrum” for Washington's strategic turn to the Asia-Pacific.

During the American presidential campaign of 2008, China was virtually a non-issue. During the televised debates between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, China was barely mentioned.

Africa has become a major theater in the global rivalry between China and the United States. This was evident during Hillary Clinton's African visit, during which she spread the message of democracy and warned Africans against unnamed “outsiders” coming to “extract the wealth of Africa for themselves, leaving nothing or very little behind.”

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.