The West can’t let Beijing carry on manipulating institutions and countries for its own nefarious ends

If the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome, the West’s policy towards China has for many years been insane.

Yet hope that Covid-19 might prove a catalyst for change seems optimistic. Last week, leaked EU papers showed that Brussels had watered down its report into China’s misinformation campaign about the contagion. China is once again buying Western complicity in its nefarious actions.

Recall Beijing’s actions since the pandemic began. In January, when doctors in Wuhan discovered there was human-to-human transmission of Covid-19, Beijing silenced them, and lied to the world about the dangers of the new virus. It refused to engage with the World Health Organisation, leaving other countries to guess the nature of the threat. And it failed to take action against its notorious wet markets.

Instead of taking responsibility for its role in the pandemic, China has opted to exploit the geopolitical opportunity it presents. It refuses to countenance an international inquiry into the origins of the virus, and has instructed its diplomats and state-controlled media companies to launch a campaign of relentless misinformation.

Its diplomats and media outlets are spreading fake news, claiming Covid-19 began in America. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman claimed that “it might be [the] US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan”, demanding “an explanation” from Washington. Chinese embassies deny that the virus was “made in China”. And Chinese newspapers have attacked Dominic Raab, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, for “questioning” Beijing’s actions. Sounding every bit like Russian propagandists, they taunt, “did your US master teach you so?”

In the midst of a global emergency, this is not the conduct of a responsible regime. But it is consistent with the actions of a state that breaks international laws and norms as a matter of policy. For while Brussels seems willing to have its silence bought by investment and trade with China, and many British advocates of “operation kowtow” stick quietly to their guns, too, an examination of Beijing’s behaviour in international institutions tells us that China cannot be considered a trustworthy partner.

Take the WHO. In 2007, after the first SARS outbreak, the WHO introduced new International Health Regulations. These regulations – to which China signed up – require countries to “notify WHO … within 24 hours … of all events which may constitute a public health emergency of international concern within its territory”. And once notified, the regulations demand that countries “continue to communicate to WHO timely, accurate and sufficiently detailed health information” including test results and the number of cases and deaths. China failed to comply with these regulations – quite deliberately – and yet the WHO has remained silent.

Perhaps this is because of the loyalties of its director general. China orchestrated the election of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to run the WHO in 2017. Under Tedros, who as Ethiopia’s health minister was accused of covering up cholera epidemics, the WHO has parroted China’s version of events about Covid-19, repeating Beijing’s early lines about the transmissibility of the virus and praising the Chinese response.

Then there are China’s obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation. When China joined the WTO in 2001, it agreed to participate in good faith, rejecting mercantilism and accepting the open market principles upon which the organisation was founded. Yet in practice it has done no such thing. China has engaged in state-sponsored and cyber-enabled industrial espionage, forced technology transfers from Western companies to Chinese firms and pursued policies that block foreign businesses from its markets.

While the so-called “golden era” of relations between Britain and China has bought British silence, the US is blunt. “The costs associated with China’s unfair and distortive policies and practices have been substantial,” the US Trade Representative reports. “Companies in economies disciplined by the market cannot effectively compete with both Chinese companies and the Chinese state.”

Then there is the United Nations, where Beijing has captured a number of key positions. Already, four of the UN’s 15 specialist agencies are led by Chinese officials. Beijing uses the International Telecommunication Union, which sets regulatory standards for communications networks, to push Huawei into different countries’ 5G networks. Critics claim Beijing also uses the Department for Economic and Social Affairs to promote its own Belt and Road Initiative under the guise of UN sustainable development goals. And there is no doubt that China uses its economic muscle to pressure countries to vote to change international human rights standards and cover up its own abuses.

And those abuses go on. While the world has been focused on fighting the pandemic, China announced new “research stations” on its military bases in the South China Sea, and earlier this month sank a Vietnamese fishing vessel in disputed waters. It has sent fighter planes on sorties near Taiwan, in which its pilots reportedly “locked onto” a Taiwanese jet but did not fire their missiles. And of course it has rounded up democracy activists in Hong Kong, including many retired lawyers and politicians.

China now says the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the treaty it signed guaranteeing Hong Kong’s rights, is “a historical document” which “no longer has any practical significance”. Its foreign ministry insists “it is not at all binding for the central government’s management over Hong Kong”.

And that is the reality of dealing with communist China. It will abrogate its treaty responsibilities. It will cover up the truth. It will bully and intimidate its neighbours. It will capture international institutions and use them for its own purposes. It will abuse international laws and norms until it gets what it wants. It cannot be trusted, it is a danger to the world: it is time for us to get real.

Nick Timothy is the author of ‘Remaking One Nation: The Future of Conservatism’