How long will it last?

This article in the IHT leads me to wonder...how long will China's image of the "anti-hegemon" last within the world in general and the Third World in particular? How long until the tables begin to turn and nations tire of the caveats, requirements, and coalitions required to enjoy Chinese largesse?

Yet Chinese support does come with conditions, including a ban on formal ties with rival Taiwan and expectations that recipients vote with China at the United Nations. This month, South Africa joined Beijing in voting against a resolution to censure Myanmar for human rights abuses, arousing criticism that South Africa had forgotten the United Nation's role in abolishing apartheid.

In much of the world, anti-globalization is synonomous (currently) with anti-Americanism - since we are generally seen to be the strongest cultural force advancing within its context. But in economic terms, it is China that gains the most from globalization - and China that does so at the expense of developing countries since it's labor pool directly competes with that of many smaller countries.

In South Africa, where trade unions have complained that Chinese textile imports have been devastating domestic industry, President Thabo Mbeki pointedly told a student audience last month that Africa needed to guard against allowing relations with China to develop into a "colonial relationship."