McCain has the Republican engine behind him which incidentally is more pro-Chinese than the Democrats.

Obama has no Democrat precedence to fall upon as the party is practically in disarray post-Clinton. He is surrounded by overzealous newbies and people with naive agendas and naive ideas of how the world should be according to their white-washed rose colored glasses.

If you track history, it was the Republicans that wants to engage the Chinese. From Nixon->Reagan->Bush Sr->Bush Jr. During Clinton time, the dusty Dalai Lama was dusted off and put out as new to highlight China's dismal human condition. Dalai Lama was never put in the forefront during Republican leaderships.