How China’s bullying could backfire

CHINA BULLIES other countries because it works. Once told that they have crossed a “red line” by harming China’s interests or calling out its misdeeds, many governments crumble swiftly. Others fold after suffering months of threats, trade boycotts and cancelled official meetings. But in China’s long experience, almost all—even sometimes America—climb down eventually, sending envoys to sue for peace. True, some Western leaders pay public lip-service to their own country’s values as they land in far-off Beijing. Once the press is shooed from the room, however, the foreign visitors get down to dealmaking. They bow to China’s mix of market power, geopolitical importance and ruthlessness.

Lately, bullying others into furtive submission has not been enough for Communist Party chiefs. Increasingly, they seem bent on humiliating countries that show defiance, notably small or mid-sized allies of America. Just now, it is Australia’s turn for punishment. Its transgressions include taking a lead among American allies in banning the use of 5G network equipment from Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant, and calling for an independent probe into the origins of covid-19. China has imposed hefty tariffs on Australian wine and blocked imports of everything from coal to lobsters. In November Chinese diplomats made public a list of 14 ways in which Australia was “poisoning bilateral relations”. The charge-sheet rebuked Australia for allowing news outlets, members of parliament and think-tanks to criticise China. Late last month China’s foreign ministry pounced on an Australian government report into unlawful, brutal killings of prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan by Australian troops. Zhao Lijian, a ministry spokesman and licensed provocateur on social media, said the report exposed the hypocrisy of Western concerns about human rights. On November 30th Mr Zhao tweeted a crude photo-montage made to look like an Australian soldier slitting an Afghan child’s throat. Mr Zhao demanded that troops be held accountable—serenely ignoring the fact that Australia’s inquiry had already recommended that 19 soldiers face criminal investigation.