Silver, trade, and the Opium Wars comparison

To test the Russian complaint that Britain could attack China without European opposition, the passage turns to the trade imbalance behind the Opium Wars. In this interpretation, Chinese restrictions left foreign merchants buying goods largely with silver, creating a drain that worried other trading powers. Opium became the commodity British merchants could sell in place of bullion, and Britain then used force when Chinese authorities tried to stop that trade. The resulting coercion is described as terrible and mercantilist, while other states had economic reasons to avoid intervening against Britain. The comparison is factually suggestive yet politically selective because it omits the interests that shaped contemporary reactions.