Has China replaced the kowtow with a red carpet?

DURING the heyday of the Chinese empire, representatives of vassal states had to go through elaborate rituals including the infamous kowtow procedure known as "three kneelings and nine prostrations" before being allowed into the imperial presence. The idea that there were other nations that were China's equal was inconceivable because, outside of China, civilisation itself was believed not to exist. What China offered was its civilisation.

Nowadays, China accepts - at least notionally - that countries, big or small, should be equal. However, China does not behave as if it is just one of almost 200 countries in the world today.

After it joined the United Nations in 1971, China questioned the universality of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was not without reason. Being one of the world's poorest countries at the time, China - like other Asian countries - felt that its right to development had been overlooked.