Many of China’s top politicians were educated in the West

In the early 20th century thousands of Chinese Communist Party members went to Russia to learn how to stage a revolution and build a socialist state. The Russians, in turn, hoped the study programmes would give them lasting influence over their Chinese comrades, many of whom would rise to positions of great power. But within a decade of becoming communist, China began squabbling with the Soviet Union. In 1961 leaders in Beijing denounced Soviet communism as the work of “revisionist traitors”.

The episode holds sobering lessons for Western countries, which have hosted millions of Chinese students over the past four decades—many of whom have risen to positions of great power. While universities raked in cash, Western leaders hoped the experience would endear future Chinese leaders to liberal values. But, as with the Russians, they have been disappointed. Today the party is more anti-Western than it has been in decades, a mood reflected in the words of President Xi Jinping and Qin Gang, the foreign minister, at a meeting of the National People’s Congress this month.