Yet it was one of Europe’s most experienced leaders, Emmanuel Macron, who chose to mark his departure from China, just as this military drill began, by declaring that it was not the continent’s business “getting caught up in crises that are not ours”. In the name of “strategic autonomy”, he said, Europe should not be “followers” of America on a crisis like Taiwan.

Mr Macron’s comments, made to some journalists, were worse than unhelpful: they were diplomatically dangerous and conceptually wrong. Though he later corrected them back in Europe, the damage had been done, to his credibility and the West’s unity.