Opinion | If China wants to use the coronavirus crisis to burnish its global image, it must rethink its Hong Kong strategy
- To be seen as a responsible international actor, China must comply with global agreements and develop the rule of law at home
- Through its actions in Hong Kong, Beijing is showing the world how thin China’s commitment to the rule of law is
“Never let a good crisis go to waste” is a quote oft-attributed to Winston Churchill in the context of his forging an alliance with Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in 1945 in carving out a new global order from the rubble of World War II. A major outcome was the creation of the United Nations, and with it the flourishing of international law in governing behaviour among and within states.
When the People’s Republic of China government replaced the authorities in Taiwan as the representative government of China in the UN in 1971, the former was, in the words of the late Australian international politics scholar Coral Bell, “the most determined and implacable revolutionary enemy of the existing international order”.
However, since the political reform initiated in the 1980s under Deng Xiaoping, China has sought to build a reputation as a major international actor, which can be relied upon in times of international crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed both the fragility of the current global order and China’s intentions under President Xi Jinping. The original epicentre of the pandemic, China has been busy convincing the world – and, above all, its own people – that the country has emerged “victorious” in its coronavirus battle.
