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Chinese President Xi Jinping took to the stage in Davos to push the case for globalisation just a day after the family of Ilham Tohti marked an important anniversary.
Three years earlier, on January 16, 2014, the softly spoken economics professor, who had regularly criticised the Chinese government over its treatment of the minority Uighur population, was taken from his home in Beijing, never to return.
Tohti, an ethnic Uighur himself, had been looking after his two young sons when more than 20 police and security officials stormed his house, confiscating phones, laptops and credit cards before placing him in detention. For five months, his family and friends didn't even know where he was being held and then in September of that year he was found guilty of "separatism" by a Chinese court and sentenced to life in prison.
Australia joined the European Union and the United States in criticising China over the harsh sentence meted out to Tohti, whom the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said had "consistently advocated peaceful dialogue as a means to address ethnic tensions in Xinjiang".
An uncomfortable lecture
This is the problem for Xi. While world leaders are encouraged by his commitment to climate change action and more open trade and investment, the elephant in the room at Davos was the Chinese government's lack of regard for basic human rights. There was something uncomfortable about a lecture from China's President on the need to be more open and inclusive when Communist Party control over people's lives in China has been tightened, rather than relaxed, under his watch.
News is more heavily censored, people are less free to say what they think, and the party dictates court decisions. A clear example of this move to tighten control was the widespread crackdown on human rights lawyers launched in July 2015, which resulted in more than 250 people being detained, questioned or harassed.
One of those lawyers, Li Chunfu, was only released earlier this month after spending 18 months in detention, during which time he was tortured and drugged according to relatives and fellow lawyers. He is being treated for a mental illness, while his elder brother, also a lawyer, remains in custody.
Cases like these make it hard for countries to embrace the idea of China taking on a bigger role in global institutions or the setting of international standards and regulations.
Qualified support for openness
Xi chose his words carefully at Davos. He qualified exactly what he was talking about when he called on global leaders to support "economic" globalisation. His focus was on trade and investment. There was no indication China supported an international approach to human rights, the rule of law or the free flow of information.
Presidents before him have opted not to speak out in similar forums, perhaps because they feared the accusation of hypocrisy that was levelled at Xi following his comments. Here was the Chinese President presenting himself as a leading internationalist, when people on the mainland can't even access The New York Times, Bloomberg or Facebook because of the Great Firewall constructed by the Communist Party to censor the internet.
It is telling that when Australian politicians talk about China they do so in the context of "shared interests". When they talk about Japan, it is about "shared values".
However, shared interests are a good start. Xi's commitment at Davos to promoting free trade and investment and further opening up China's economy should be welcomed. As should China's climate change initiatives and move to set up the world's newest development bank – the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
There is a strong argument that the more China is integrated into the international community, the more likely it will take on the role of a good global citizen. But this will take time and is of little comfort to the family of Tohti, who remains behind bars.
Lisa Murray is a China correspondent with The Australian Financial Review based in Shanghai