Cameron in China

Ah! The joys of a command economy. The Chinese feel they have to offer some crumbs to nice Mr Cameron who has come all this way, so they tell one of their airlines to order a few of those engines which keep blowing up. I bet that's just what the airline management wanted.

And then there's the abuse. British Prime Ministers have to go to China with their begging bowl and then have to voice some criticism of China in order to keep their own side happy. It must all be agreed diplomatically.

'So, you take some of these bum engines and we'll say you are a murderous regime which imprisons the Chinese nation and has cruelly invaded Tibet. That OK? Oh, not OK. So can we say that we have discussed human rights and whilst some critics might imagine there may be some room for improvement the meeting has been very friendly? Thanks Mr Hu. Nice doing business with you.'

The Chinese must think we are appalling hypocrites. We are appalling hypocrites. We could stop human rights abuse in China by simply getting together with other nations and refusing to buy Chinese products or invest in their country. We won't be doing that, so it might be better to shut up.