Time will prove

China's response to the awarding of a Nobel Peace prize to Liu Xiaobo was as swift as it was strong.

The Nobel Committee's awarding of the prize on October 8 to a man China officially classifies as a criminal was seen as a serious insult. After all, Liu had been sentenced to 11 years on Christmas Day 2009 specifically for his attempt to subvert the government.

The only aim of the empty chair at the ceremony was to humiliate China, believes Shi Yinhong, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China.

"There is realistically little the nation can do but move forward responsibly and continue to develop our legal and social systems in a responsible way knowing that time will prove stability and working together is the correct course," Shi says.

As Wikileaks have demonstrated, North Korea poses a special problem for China's image. North Korea killed four South Koreans on November 23 by firing scores of artillery shells onto Yeonpyeong Island in disputed waters off the west coast of the divided peninsula.

Critics paint China as a rogue in the international system for its refusal to publicly criticize Pyongyang for the deaths and injuries.

International voices called for China to take a more "principled stand" and publicly denounce the North, while some experts speculated on how much influence China really has on North Korea.

"The international community probably has too high a set of expectations for China," says Gao Zhikai, director of the China National Association for International Studies.

"The way out of this is still coordinated positions and negotiations."

More thoughtful analysts looking a little deeper into the North Korea and Liu Xiaobo incidents have suggested China has done what it must do.

"Remember this: 'one man's meat is another man's poison.' You can't expect everyone to like, let alone love China's rise," was typical of the many Internet user comments posted and maintained all over peopleforum.cn in defense of the government's principled stand.

"By far, the hard work of China to build a solid foundation for an emerging country are unparalleled in the world," another Internet user commented. "Similar to re-roofing a house by leaving the old roof and simply applying a new layer. It keeps the rain out, but the old roof remains underneath rotting.

"Regardless of what the news and media try to fling around and get under the skin of societies, China is on a solid path and should not thwarted by any negative claims."

To many Western observers, all the hard work that went into the gold medals and the successful expo cannot realistically be expected to offset the strong emotions stirred by the indelible global image of an empty chair or the desire to lash out at North Korea's killing of four South Koreans.

By ensuring the country continues its peaceful, stable development, and standing firmly against threats to its core interests, China's leaders are proving they can stay cool-headed and do the right thing even if it makes the country look bad in the short term in the eyes of the West, Shen says.

"In the long run this is the best way to build China's image as a sober defender of stability and prosperity."