Last week Wang Xining, China’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Canberra, addressed the National Press Club, a speech widely reported and more important for what Wang didn’t say than for what he did.  

The small number of diplomats sprinkled around the room, recognisable for their expressions of collective polite wariness, listened carefully, perhaps hearing things differently to the Australian audience.  

The Guardian’s Katherine Murphy, possibly influenced by Wang’s puckish smile, referencing Shakespeare and unhappy marriages, called his speech ‘nuanced’.  

Actually, it was about as nuanced as that flat, no-arguments maiyo — no/no way — so beloved of Chinese officialdom.