If 2009 was China's year and the noughties were a decade when Beijing's rise seemed on permanent fast-forward, the past two weeks have been a setback for the country's global ambitions. The Copenhagen conference, a dissident sent to prison and an execution have raised again the question of whether China's political system is compatible with the international respect it craves.

For most of the past decade China conducted a quiet effort to revamp its global image. While the US was fighting two unpopular wars, Beijing expanded foreign aid, settled sensitive border conflicts in Asia and presented itself as unthreatening. Now it wants to go to the next level.

Over the summer, President Hu Jintao gave a speech in which he outlined “four strengths” that China needed to increase its power. As well as economic competitiveness and political influence, they included image projection and moral appeal. The message was clear: if China is to achieve great-power status, it needs the soft power that comes not from money or might but from being admired.