Why would a 75-year-old businessman spend 20 months of his retirement writing a book on a sweeping topic like the relationship between China and the West?
Paul Cheng Ming-fun, a former Legco member and ex-head of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, who attended college in the United States and worked for US companies for more than two decades, felt it was his mission to explain his native country to Americans.
'Citizens of the West, particularly in the United States, need to know more about China, which is a rising power,' he said. 'In fact, even what they think they know may be fuelled by misconceptions and misunderstanding. I hope my book can help clear up misunderstandings about China held by some Americans.'
That book, On Equal Terms: Redefining China's Relationship with America and the West, was published this week by John Wiley & Sons (Asia), the American publisher's Singapore-based subsidiary.
Cheng, who published the book under his pinyin name in Putonghua, Zheng Mingxun, says his background makes him an ideal interpreter between the two worlds.
'Having worked for major American multinationals in the US and Asia, I have lived with a foot in both worlds,' he said. 'I have many friends from the United States and get along with them very well. The tension between the US and China stems from US politics, not its people.'