Analysis | Beijing plays hardball with ex-diplomat’s seizure

(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China is playing hardball with the detention of a former Canadian diplomat days after Canada arrested a leading Chinese executive.

In many ways it looks like a classic Chinese response to perceived slights: Deny any wrongdoing, seize the moral high ground and exert maximum pressure to extract concessions. But Beijing’s detention of Michael Kovrig also reflects an increasingly bold approach to international disputes under President Xi Jinping, who has overseen a vast expansion of China’s diplomatic, military and economic power.

China has often retaliated against foreign governments and corporations in diplomatic disputes, but rarely by holding a foreign national. Kovrig’s case is unusual, but commercial retaliation against companies from countries at odds with Beijing over political or military issues has grown increasingly common as China exercises its leverage as the world’s second largest economy.

The most recent high- profile target was South Korean retailer Lotte, whose business in China was devastated after it sold land to the Seoul government for use in an U.S. anti-missile system stridently opposed by Beijing.

Authorities closed most of the South Korean company’s 99 supermarkets and other outlets — often alleging safety violations — and closed down a theme park project. Beijing claimed the THAAD anti-missile system threatened its security by allowing U.S. forces to see into Chinese territory.

Lotte is not alone. Chinese boycotted Norwegian salmon over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the late dissident writer Liu Xiaobo. They stopped buying fruit from the Philippines amid a dispute over territory in the South China Sea. Mobs attacked Japanese cars and department stores after Tokyo nationalized East China Sea islands claimed by China.

Such movements have grassroots support but since public protests are largely banned in China they are almost certainly countenanced by the ruling Communist Party. The government avoids acknowledging its role to avoid damaging its image as a champion of free trade

Kovrig’s detention hasn’t been widely reported within China and it hasn’t been explicitly connected to Meng’s case. Yet, there’s little doubt they’re seen as linked by many Chinese, who are showing firm support for Meng online and on the street: Huawei’s global success is a source of immense national pride. MDT/AP