If you think you live in a free country, ask if your politicians feel free to meet the Dalai Lama. If the answer is no, then you are part of the Chinese empire — you just haven’t realised it yet.

I coined this “Tibet test” a few years ago, incensed by a series of grovelling apologies from European countries for their temerity in holding meetings with the Tibetan spiritual leader. Germany’s Angela Merkel was the first to kowtow, in 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy of France was the next in 2009. Britain followed suit in 2013. They and others promised never to make such a dreadful mistake again. The Tibetan diplomatic calendar has emptied. Only the bravest foreign politicians are still willing to risk the wrath of