True, the Chinese Emperor has no clothes. China boasts a 5000 year civilisation, and maybe one day that vaunted “civilisation” will grow to hold proper elections, respect the right of citizens to communicate freely with one another and with foreigners, get its military snout out of Tibet and East Turkestan, acknowledge the right of the Taiwanese people to self-determination, break with the goose-stepping North Korean thugs, end the epidemic of imprisonment and executions, come clean about those who sooled the troops on to the people at Tienanmen Square.

Meanwhile there are disturbing trends in the West towards reversal of the Enlightenment values which Graham Cooke cites in contrast to the Prison Republic of China: values embodied for example in open government (Assange anyone?), free communication (Internet censorship anyone?), due process (Assange again, anyone?). We would have to sink a lot further to reach China’s standards but should instead aspire to better ourselves and demand better of other countries as well.

Thanks for your comments. I think the query about when the boot was on the other foot and China was dancing to the West's tune was answered by a further commentator who mentioned the Opium Wars, when Britain forced the Imperial Chinese Government to reverse a ban on opium imported from British-ruled India. We could also mention the treaty that ceded Hong Kong island 'in perpetuity' and later the 99-year lease on the New Territories. There are many other examples.