China steps up use of 'hostage diplomacy' in international relations: experts

China is increasingly using “hostage diplomacy” in international affairs, say experts, following the detention of an Australian news anchor in Beijing this month as tensions escalate between the two countries.

The case of Cheng Lei, who has been detained in China since mid-August, is reminiscent of the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were jailed after Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, in December 2018.

Cheng, who was born in China but became an Australian citizen, has been “held under residential surveillance,” according to Australian news reports.

“When you have multiple countries’ citizens detained, all of whom have one thing in common, which is that they have tense relations with China, it suggests a pattern,” said Christian Leuprecht, a political science professor at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University.

“Certainly there is a pattern of China relying on hostage diplomacy,” said Leuprecht

Relations between China and Australia have been deteriorating amid a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic actions after Australia pushed for an inquiry into China’s handling of the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that China has been much more inclined to use this kind of coercive diplomacy lately, with incidents happening across 28 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and among other Asian countries.

The sharp increase in diplomatic incidents like these started in 2018, according to the report, which comes to the conclusion that the only way for the rest of the world to counter these “divide and conquer” tactics is through global multilateral institutions.

The report found 152 total cases of coercive diplomacy used by the Chinese regime and 34 cases in the first eight months of this year.

“Unless states can come up with a better strategy to resist coercive diplomacy, we can expect this trend to continue,” said Fergus Hanson, Emilia Currey and Tracy Beattie, the ASPI authors, in a statement obtained by Britain’s Daily Telegraph.

Leuprecht said that China has been deliberately targeting “middle powers” like Canada and Australia, which may not have the diplomatic firepower to push back. In response, Canada may have to play a bit of “hardball,” he said.

“One obvious avenue is — and this will be highly controversial — that China relies heavily on food imports from around the world to feed its population,” said Leuprecht. “That includes Canadian corn and grain and so if there’s a collective effort by countries such as Australia and Canada that supply a disproportionate amount of basic foodstuffs to China it would send a clear signal that if you’re going to play like that, we have ways of causing pain.”

Leuprecht said this kind of behaviour is generally frowned upon in international diplomacy and trade, but that the Chinese government’s behaviour may present an extraordinary challenge.

“If this is the way the Chinese do business, then maybe we need to do business with the Chinese on their terms,” said Leuprecht.

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The case of Cheng, an anchor for China Global Television Network and Chinese-born Australian citizen, will sound familiar to Canadians, after Kovrig and Spavor were detained and then later charged with spying this year.

The arrests of Kovrig and Spavor came immediately after Meng was detained in Vancouver at the request of the United States. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the detentions of the two Canadians arbitrary and argued they are simply retribution for Meng’s arrest.

Even Chinese officials have overtly linked the detention of Kovrig and Spavor to Meng’s detention in Canada and state-run media in China has explicitly said the two Canadians will only be released if Meng is released.

The ASPI report noted that an increasing number of countries are starting to call out the Chinese government for this behaviour, including Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan and India.

India made headlines recently for banning the wildly popular Chinese-made social media app TikTok, over privacy and security issues. The move followed border clashes between the two countries that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and ratcheted up tensions between the world’s two most populous countries.

Leuprecht said he’s doubtful that Canada’s increasing willingness to call out the Chinese represents a major shift in relations.

“I think the reason we are emboldened is not necessarily because politicians have suddenly woken up, it’s simply because the Chinese have made themselves so unpopular with our domestic populations,” said Leuprecht. “It has simply become more acceptable to call out this type of behaviour by China. But I don’t see a serious shift in policy by Canada in the way that it engages with China.”

• Email: sxthomson@postmedia.com | Twitter: stuartxthomson