Letters | Why the West’s battles with China are like Jackie Chan movies

When I was a child, I loved watching Jackie Chan films. In all his movies, Chan is always able to defend himself against a group of thugs in the most artistic way. However I would always wonder to myself, “Why are they going after him one at a time instead of swarming him? He is strong, but he is not invincible. Are the thugs just honourable or simply stupid?”

Watching what is unfolding between China and the rest of the world, I see the same fight taking place. Everyone is taking swipes at China – on Covid-19, human rights and territorial aggression – yet, like Chan, China is holding its own against these attacks.

In April, Australia built up the courage to chastise China on its slow response to the initial coronavirus outbreak, openly demanding an independent inquiry into China’s Covid-19 response. Beijing’s response was swift and direct.

First, it imposed tariffs on barley imports and, more recently, urged Chinese companies to stop buying Australian coal and cotton. If Australia had allies in this fight or other trading partners to fill the gap left by China, it might still be pushing for an inquiry. However, Australia quietened down and demands for the inquiry fizzled out.

Canada at the US’ request arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, for allegedly violating sanctions. The US offered polite “thanks”. China’s response was to imprison two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Canada probably received commiserations, but no concrete action from the US. Canada is still expected to extradite Meng to the US. What will the fate of the two Canadians be if that happens? Canada did the dirty work, but when China responded, the US remained largely silent.

After the democracy protests in Hong Kong, the US decided to apply pressure on China by slapping sanctions on companies seen as loyal to Beijing. Instead of going after the state-owned banks, the US seems to be going after HSBC. Last I heard, HSBC was a British bank and Britain is a key ally of the US. Sanctioning HSBC will hurt Hong Kong and Britain more than China.