I would consider the Opium wars very relevant today, as they were part of the Century of Humiliation, a thing that The Party is very much trying to get "revenge" for and China pretty openly allows a shitload of Fentanyl into the US through Mexican Cartels. China is a willing partner in the US Fentanyl problem.

That it's poetic is probably not lost on the people involved.

It's only relevant when a dictator says it's relevant. To the west, it is irrelevant.