Western statesmen have every duty to remind Chinese leaders of their still appalling human rights record ? from the Tiananmen Square massacre to the occupation of Tibet and the continued veneration of Chairman Mao, who has been exposed as a killer on the level of Hitler and Stalin.

Unfortunately, they have gone quiet on these issues and have instead have lectured the Chinese on the need to revalue the renminbi. It is not as if China were making a mess of its economy. On the contrary, it has a far higher growth rate than any country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. And, so far from appealing for handouts from the west, it is one of the main sources of the financial inflows which are sustaining the US economy.