In Beijing
WHAT do the North Korean nuclear crisis, the genocide in Sudan, last year's political unrest in Myanmar, and the current financial turmoil have in common?
Not much on first sight. But if you are Chinese President Hu Jintao, you would see a somewhat worrying trend in the international media's reports on these issues.
It would begin quietly and subtlely. But soon enough, the emphasis and the headlines would shift in a big way towards China's role in these issues, and what more it can or should do.
In more extreme instances, such as during the protracted North Korean nuclear crisis, China was almost portrayed as the only party that could resolve the impasse and save the day, a "white knight" so to speak.
With much of the financial world going down in flames, it's no surprise that media attention has once again turned to China, given that it has the world's largest foreign reserves of about US$2 trillion (S$3 trillion).
Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera headlined one of its stories on last week's Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Beijing as "China urged to save world economy". Some regional leaders appeared to have bought this argument as well, according to sources with knowledge of last week's closed-door Asem meeting.
With an eye to China's considerable reserves, one leader even suggested that every country should cough up 10 per cent of its reserves in order to form a "global rescue fund" – a proposal that must have appalled Beijing.
This current obsession with China as the financial world's "white knight", as with its previous incarnation during the North Korea nuclear crisis, conveniently ignores the limits of Chinese power and its own domestic problems.
China's own financial system is a shaky one, meaning the authorities are more concerned with preventing the global stocks meltdown from wrecking havoc domestically rather than rescuing the world.
Another fire Beijing has to fight in its own backyard is the slowdown in the country's massive exports sector, a major source of employment.
For sure, China must play a major role in any global solution to the current economic crisis. But clearly it cannot single-handedly resolve the crisis as it has many problems at home to look after.
Or as President Hu politely told his counterparts from Asia and Europe last week, China will play a responsible role, but it can help the situation best by keeping its own house in order.
In an unusually blunt commentary, the official Xinhua news agency said observers should not "hope for too much" from China in this financial crisis, adding: "Is China able to rescue the world, as some Western media ventured to ponder?"
"The bold proposition more mirrored desperation for hope and support in a sweeping crisis than true faith in China's strength to lead the world out of crisis."