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The leaders of the
21st-century’s two superpowers met at the White House this week, with
Chinese leader Hu Jintao standing shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S.
President Barack Obama and no longer in his shadow.

“Our cooperation as partners should be based on mutual respect,” Hu said.

Hu’s elaborately
staged four-day state visit seemed to mark the end of the Chinese
leader’s unofficial status as a (junior) partner to the American
president. In some ways Hu is the stronger of the two.

Obama is in
trouble; his country’s economy is sluggish and gripped by stubborn
unemployment. His government has accumulated record debts. His domestic
political position has been undermined by voter disenchantment and
Republican opposition.

According to this
week’s new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 56 percent of
Americans believe that the president will serve the remaining two years
of his term with less influence over the country than they expect from
the Republicans in Congress.

Hu, by contrast, is
the unchallenged leader of his country, managing the most dramatic
economic growth in world history and lending Washington billions of
dollars for its budget.

America’s own
Forbes magazine ranks Hu as the most powerful man in the world (with
Obama relegated to number two) because he “exercises near dictatorial
control over 1.3 billion people, one-fifth of world’s population.
Unlike Western counterparts, Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail
dissidents and censor Internet without meddling from pesky
bureaucrats.” But the United States is still much freer, richer and
more influential. People around the world use its currency, fly on its
airplanes and watch its movies. Have you seen a Chinese banknote,
passenger jet or comedy recently?

Hu and Obama are
certainly partners in the world economy. But the American president
remains paramount in economics and most other respects, because of
America’s democratic ideals, diplomatic ambitions, cultural influence
and technological innovation. Obama’s challenge is to keep it that way.

Jonathan Mann presents Political Mann on CNN International each Friday at 18:30 (CAT), Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at 10am (CAT).