But Copenhagen, with its simple division of the world into rich and poor countries, has again highlighted the problems and ambiguities inherent in this terminology. As far as climate change is concerned, it seems that this means others will increasingly want China to behave as a developed country even as it stresses its own developing status. The contradictions look set to continue. 

Before the handover, the Chinese government assured Hong Kong people that their future lay in their own hands. But in 2004, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, decided that Hong Kong could not initiate the process leading to universal suffrage without first obtaining Beijing’s approval. 

Appearing before the media after talks with his Chinese counterpart, President Obama said: “We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have." That was what China wanted him to say. 

Internet regulation has increasingly become a great concern for the Chinese government in particular, and for other governments in general, be they democratic or authoritarian. Keeping a balance between proper regulation and respect for people’s civic rights and privacy is a difficult and delicate act to accomplish, especially in view of China’s more recent history. 

There exists a widening chasm across the Chinese political spectrum over the evaluation of the country’s past three decades of breakneck growth. Indeed, the contrast between the two halves of the People’s Republic’s history, roughly equally divided into the “Mao-era” and the “post-Mao era,” could not be starker.