Asked why Beijing had halted plans to let foreign newspapers print in China, Shi Zongyuan, the country’s top press regulator, did not mince his words. “When I think of the ‘colour revolutions’, I feel afraid,” he said.

Mr Shi is far from alone in his concern. Since popular protests toppled the authoritarian government of Georgia in 2003, Chinese leaders and government academics have watched with increasing concern the copycat collapse of similar regimes in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.