No change

WHEN trying to persuade Congress in 2000 that China should be let into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), America's then president, Bill Clinton, knew how to win over the sceptics. China's admission, he said, was likely to have “a profound impact on human rights and political liberty”. A decade on, China's disappointed liberals no longer suggest that freer trade will speed political reform.

China's media have been trumpeting the tenth anniversary on December 11th of the country's WTO accession. In China as much as in America, the event was seen as of far greater importance than a mere pledge by China to reduce barriers to its markets (moves towards which had long been under way). For both countries it was a crucial part of restoring calm to a relationship that had been marred by annual fights in Congress over whether to keep granting China most-favoured-nation trading status (as enjoyed by most of America's other trading partners). Mr Clinton's remarks preceded bitterly contested votes in Congress in 2000 that ended the annual renewal process and ensured America would share any benefits from the market-opening measures pledged by China on entering the WTO.