ONE never ceases to be amazed at the petulance of China's leadership. One moment we are being told that modern China is a powerful nation that can no longer be bullied by the Western imperialist powers. The next, we find this self-styled ''great power'' working itself into a lather over a British domestic broadcast that shows the late Chairman Mao Zedong to have been a drug addict and paedophile (''China may punish 'anti-Mao' BBC,'' Sunday Morning Post, December 19).
We have seen China threaten economic sanctions against the United States for selling advanced fighter jets to Taiwan, then against France for the same transgression, and finally against Britain for allegedly sowing discord in Hong Kong (the latter regionbeing threatened with invasion).
The interesting thing is that by the time the threat to France was made, the threat against the US had been forgotten, as had the threat against France when the threat against the British was made.
Beijing should learn to act like the power it is and lighten up. You don't see the US threaten mayhem every time someone mentions President George Washington's dalliances, and the British have enough of a sense of humour to laugh at their royal family.
DAVE LINDORFF Sha Tin