Even if people cannot appreciate arcane points of law about the difference between national security and industrial espionage, few are likely to forget the case of David Hicks who was incarcerated in Guantanamo for five years plus.

Or the case of James Pang the Australian citizen who was arrested and locked up in China for several years while Coalition politicians happily visited and traded with that country.

As for our own behaviour, we need go no further than the treatment of Dr Haneef again under the Coalition to point to the hypocrisy of the Opposition. They cannot even get their line right. One minute Kevin Rudd is that dangerous red ''The Manchurian Candidate'' and the next he is being humiliated by China and ''our important trade relationship has hit rock bottom''.

The Australian people have longer memories than the Opposition.

C Taylor, Kambah

In all the thousands of words written about the Stern Hu arrest in Shanghai, considerable attention has been given to trying to work out why the Chinese authorities acted as they have.

However, little attention has been given to why Mr Hu and his employer did not see the situation coming.

As a China-born person, with a university education at China's premier Peking University, and employed as a senior representative of foreign businesses, Mr Hu, although now an Australian citizen, has lived and worked in China for most of his working life.

He would, or should, have been aware that he was a prime target for retribution should his actions, or those of his employer[s] displease the Chinese government.

For their part Mr Hu's present employer, Rio Tinto, should also have been aware of the danger to their employee when they embarked on the latest round of high profile/high stakes ''bargaining'' with Chinese businesses. That neither recognised the seriousness of the situation, or if recognising it took no action, suggests a failure in risk management by both the man and the company.