China joins in

China joins in

One of China's top foreign policy priorities in recent years has been to portray itself as a respectable member of the international community.

Such a responsible image would have been impossible to maintain if Beijing had blocked efforts to end the killings in East Timor. It would have been hard to reconcile such a stance with the concern expressed at the brutality inflicted on ethnic Chinese during last year's riots in Jakarta.

It might also have created difficulties in achieving key foreign policy goals, such as entry into the World Trade Organization.

So now China has adopted a more positive tone, deploring the recent bloodshed and even agreeing to dispatch civilian police to join the peacekeepers.

That marks a more serious involvement than the last time Beijing participated in a UN force, sending engineers to Cambodia in 1982.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, China is in a position to play an important role in international affairs. In the past, that power has not always been exercised in a constructive way.

But the decision to join the East Timor force, albeit with misgivings, suggests that Beijing is serious in its goal of establishing itself as a bigger player in the world community.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong