If the government is serious about speaking up on human rights abuses in China, then it has left it too late. It was too late when David Cameron left for Beijing.

For world leaders, direct diplomacy is tricky, as when played out in public it cannot be seen to fail. Cameron’s decision to visit China bestows on the country the sort of international acceptance it craves. But what the prime minister cannot afford now is to have his trip portrayed as a ‘failure’ – a piece of stage management that Beijing, not Downing Street, now controls.

Vince Cable has said: ‘They know this is part of the wider political and economic framework in which we operate.’ But it is not clear from the actions of successive UK governments that human rights in China are a known priority.

Two issues relating to the rule of law show what pressure on China can achieve. The premium set for it to join the World Trade Organisation in 2001 was a high one, involving many international commitments to the rule of law. And China’s leaders also recognise that internal dispute resolution must be fairer – the result of strong pressure from abroad. That too has the air of a condition.

Not so human rights.