Hope remains for Western solidarity. Look at embassies in Beijing

CHINA’S MESSAGE to the Western world has been called an argument in three parts. In order, it runs: China’s rise is inevitable; there are rich rewards for those who co-operate with it; resistance is futile. In the tree-lined embassy districts of China’s capital, there is no debate about the country’s rise, which inspires a mix of admiration, greed and dread. But the rest of the argument inspires more scepticism.

Take that second claim about rewards awaiting China’s partners. Diplomats describe much greater realism in their internal discussions. Their views are affected, inevitably, by the apparent consensus in Washington that China is a threat, bent on growing richer and more powerful at America’s expense. But there has also been a broader change of mood. Only a few years ago, it is related, as soon as envoys sat to dine, “stealth boasting” would start. Isn’t China tricky, the envoys would sigh—though, of course, my country’s relations with it are rosy. Such bragging has become rarer.