President Jacques Chirac couldn't have shown his Chinese counterpart a better time. First there was the weekend at the Chiracs' chateau de Bity in Correze - Mr Jiang Zemin is the first foreign leader to be invited there. The bonhomie and accordion music seemed to go to the Chinese President's head, and under the amused gaze of Mr Chirac he stole a few dance steps with the French first lady.
When Mr Jiang's helicopter landed at Les Invalides, the chiefs of staff of the army, air force and navy were there to greet him. Never had the Chirac presidency prepared such a royal reception: 180 Republican Guard horsemen to accompany the Chinese President to his Paris quarters.
In Correze, the local constabulary ensured that the Chinese dissident, Mr Wei Jingsheng - who spent 18 years in the Chinese gulag and was a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize - couldn't get within 10 km of the Chiracs' castle. The Paris police were thoughtful enough to arrest 135 human rights demonstrators who wanted to unfurl banners along Mr Jiang's route. You would almost think you were in China.
And yesterday, things only got better: another morning meeting with President Chirac, lunch with the Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, visits to the National Assembly and Senate, all followed by a state dinner at the Elysee Palace. Those pesky demonstrators, objecting to 2,004 death sentences last year, complaining about 2,000 political prisoners in China, were dismissed by Beijing as "noise and static who go against the current of history". For the past three years, under Mr Chirac's aegis, France has refrained from criticising China in the UN Human Rights Commission. Mr Chirac's policy is a variation on Washington's old apartheid-era "constructive engagement" towards South Africa - the belief that if you are nice to human rights abusers they will change.
Unfortunately, China has not changed since the pressure has eased. Au contraire - human rights groups are unanimous in denouncing a crackdown over the past 18 months. So why did Mr Jiang have to embarrass his host? There was Mr Jiang at a joint press conference with Mr Chirac yesterday, trying to tar the French President with their friendship.
"Often there is a slogan for the independence of Tibet," Mr Jiang said, referring to protests at Beijing's 40-year-old invasion of Tibet. "I believe that Mr Chirac does not share this point of view."
There are more than 600,000 practising Buddhists in France, and the Dalai Lama was Mr Chirac's guest at a lunch marking the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last year. But Mr Chirac didn't bat an eyelid.
Asked by a Chinese journalist to elaborate on their discussions regarding "the democratisation of China", Mr Jiang answered frankly: "Today the time is very limited for this subject. Democracy is not an absolute concept. On the contrary, it is relative." For his part, Mr Chirac said he has "the conviction that, in view of the political and technological evolution of humanity, a great power (China) will by the force of things be democratic."
Hmmm.
In four days in France, Mr Jiang's only concession to Mr Chirac was a rehashed promise to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - without any indication of when he will do so. The US senate refused to ratify the CTBT on October 13th. France, it seems, wants to create a counterweight to what it calls the US "hyper-power" by banding together with countries like China. And contracts for 28 new airbuses totalling Ffr 15 billion (a little less than £2 billion) surely had a lot to do with the warmth of Mr Chirac's hospitality.
About a dozen people from Amnesty International and the press freedom group Reporters sans Frontieres (RsF) plastered the facade of Air China's Paris office with posters attacking Beijing's human rights abuses and muzzling of the press.
"Six years of power - 48 journalists in prison" read one banner the protesters held up. Mr Jiang became president in 1993.
Mr Marc Blondel, head of the Force Ouvriere (FO) trade union, said that in China "the fundamental labour standards of the International Labour Organisation are flouted on all levels" and urged Mr Chirac to repeat earlier calls for more workers' rights.
