On the eve of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics , an increasingly powerful China is drawing on hard-won lessons from hosting the 2008 Summer Games as it grapples with human rights protesters, diplomatic boycotts and pandemic challenges that threaten to tarnish its big show. In the intervening 14 years, China’s gross domestic product and military budget have tripled, disposable income has increased sevenfold and its diplomatic corps has become the world’s largest. One thing hasn’t changed, however. Controversy over human rights remains front and centre – even if the spotlight has shifted. “ Xinjiang is the Tibet of 2008,” said...