Xanana Gusmao travelled through six Asian nations last week with his colleague in the East Timorese leadership, Jose Ramos Horta, seeking investment and projecting a desire for new diplomatic relationships.
While in China, Mr Gusmao told Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan that "East Timor places great importance on China's important role in international and regional affairs, and hopes to establish and develop normal relations with China as soon as possible". It is a testament to how far this once hunted guerilla fighter has come that he is now grappling with the highest issues of global politics seemingly without a hiccup.
Mr Gusmao became head of the Revolutionary Front for an Independence East Timor – Fretilin – in December 1978. In 1981, he was elected leader of the resistance and commander-in-chief of the Falintil (National Liberation Armed Forces of East Timor). In 1983, Fretilin initiated the first preliminary talks with the occupying armed forces in the liberated areas of the territory under Mr Gusmao's command.
What gives him the aura of leadership is his combination of proven credibility under the gun, with consistent advocacy of national unity within East Timor, and tolerance towards his many enemies.
Mr Gusmao has already met Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid and talked of forging new ties between the formerly warring neighbours, a step made remarkable by the years he spent under Indonesian detention.
Mr Gusmao was captured on November 20, 1992, by the Indonesian armed forces and imprisoned in Jakarta, only gaining full freedom late last year.
Despite severe pressure, he managed to denounce from a Jakarta courtroom before being sentenced to life imprisonment Indonesia's rule of East Timor.
The outside world has long been a fan of Mr Gusmao, and his meeting with then-president Nelson Mandela of South Africa in 1997 helped transform him into the "Mandela of East Timor".
He also has an aura of sex appeal for many women observers, ranging from US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to a large group of local journalists.
His conciliatory and intellectual skills will remain much in demand in East Timor, but both Mr Gusmao and Mr Ramos Horta have said they do not want to take on the new country's leadership when UN-supervised local elections take place in a year or two.
At the same time, the National Council of Timorese Resistance, which Mr Gusmao leads, is beginning to fracture along ideological and personal lines.
Mr Gusmao remains more attuned to the demands of the World Bank, the United Nations and the outside world, while some of his colleagues want to maintain the kind of control and political "purity" built up through years of guerilla struggle.
"We read about many other failures, in many other countries, in which heroes of the struggle become the leaders. A new country needs someone of more capability to lead, to govern and to guide," he says.
"True development cannot exist in the absence of real democracy, and the pillar of our independence will be those values which underpin the active and conscious participation of each and every East Timorese."