China a tougher sell for West on trouble-spots

By Chris Buckley - Analysis

BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will be seeking China's backing over North Korea and Iran when he visits this month, but Beijing appears increasingly assertive about what Western pressure it accepts or rejects.

Obama's summit in China in mid-November is sure to cover trouble-spots where Washington hopes Beijing will throw more of its growing political and economic weight behind efforts to defuse disputed nuclear programs or diplomatic standoffs.

China has bowed to such demands before, reluctantly backing limited U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and Tehran, while resisting tougher steps it saw as unwarranted or a threat to bilateral ties.

Such diplomatic haggling, with China accepting some Western demands while protecting its bilateral ties with targeted states, will not change. But recent signs suggest China may now be more willing to stand its ground.

China's continued economic growth and rise in diplomatic stature during the global financial crisis, and uncertainty over policy in Washington, had emboldened Beijing, said Andrew Small, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Brussels, who has studied China's ties with the "rogue states."

"Several years ago, China's position was much more externally driven. Foreign pressure and U.S. lobbying was much more important," Small said of those ties.

"The U.S. is still a big factor, but they're finding they can be more assertive without putting relations with the U.S. in jeopardy."

Obama was likely to find bargaining for China's support over nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran more drawn out, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international security at Renmin University in Beijing.