https://www.scmp.com/rss/16203/feed Paul Letters is a novelist, journalist and historian. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Hong Kong lacks both the freedom that comes with full democracy and the total control that comes with an authoritarian regime: it is neither one thing nor the other. People here are not free to choose their political leaders, yet they have the freedom to protest. The dysfunctionality of having one freedom without the other is exacerbated by governmental responses to the coronavirus outbreak, all of which underlines the unsustainability of “one country, two systems”. During the 2003 outbreak of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3050484/coronavirus-hong-kongs-strikes-and-panic-are-symptoms-ailing-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3050484/coronavirus-hong-kongs-strikes-and-panic-are-symptoms-ailing-one?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Feb 2020 02:00:09 +0000 The fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, heralded the end of communism in central and eastern Europe. The prevailing Western view then – as claimed in Francis Fukuyama’s book The End of History – was that capitalist democracy had won, communism was dead and the cold war over. Three decades on, the preponderance of democracies constitute a post-war high of almost 60 per cent of the world’s nations, but communism is far from dead and a second cold war is upon us. During the cold war of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3036472/end-history-communism-and-cold-war-continue-blight-democratic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3036472/end-history-communism-and-cold-war-continue-blight-democratic?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Nov 2019 17:00:14 +0000 We should not be surprised by the vociferous counterprotests mounted against Hong Kong students abroad by mainland Chinese, particularly within Australia – but we should try to understand why they happen. In universities throughout Australia, pro-Beijing counterprotesters have confronted Hong Kong democracy advocates. At a minimum, pro-democracy posters have been torn down and replaced with messages of support for communist China. At times, violence has ensued. Large numbers of young people from... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3022791/why-do-mainland-chinese-and-hong-kong-youth-clash-universities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3022791/why-do-mainland-chinese-and-hong-kong-youth-clash-universities?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Aug 2019 03:30:05 +0000 Electors the world over are happy to vote for a political leader who habitually lies, as long as the whoppers they tell play to our own prejudices. We don’t want any old lies – we want our lies. In Britain, European election results late last month catapulted Nigel Farage’s months-old Brexit Party to No 1, shortening both the timeline and the odds for Theresa May’s likely replacement as prime minister. Farage, the so-called anti-politician politician, who hates politics so much he’s stayed in it... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012453/boris-johnson-donald-trump-leaders-who-habitually-lie-win-votes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012453/boris-johnson-donald-trump-leaders-who-habitually-lie-win-votes?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2019 23:00:12 +0000 I used to be Mr Majority, with no experience of being a minority in any meaningful respect. White, male, middle-class and straight, I had everything except the ability to dance rhythmically. And yet I knew nothing – nothing about discrimination, that is. It’s easy for white, middle-class males – from America to Australia – to deride Serena Williams’ on-court behaviour last weekend. Provoked by pigheaded umpiring decisions, Williams did raise her voice and call the umpire names (“liar” and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2164166/dont-judge-serena-williams-if-you-dont-make?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2164166/dont-judge-serena-williams-if-you-dont-make?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Sep 2018 05:00:00 +0000 Hard times I grew up in a very poor and an entirely dysfunctional family in Hong Kong in the 1960s. Poverty and ignorance were the root cause of the dysfunction. Everybody suffered in the community. Spanking children hard was commonplace. My shoulder and arms were dislocated when my grandmother pulled me too hard in her brand of discipline. I recall crying all day waiting for my mom to come home at night to take me to see an herb doctor. The herb doctor had his own brand of torture, using... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2150750/how-hong-kong-authors-violent-childhood-inspired?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2150750/how-hong-kong-authors-violent-childhood-inspired?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:30:30 +0000 Obama founded Islamic State. No Russian troops entered Ukraine. Turkey to join the EU by 2020: millions of Turks to swamp Britain. Anti-Putin journalist Arkady Babchenko assassinated in Kiev. Trump’s tall tales, Putin’s phoney pronouncements, Brexiters’ bogus broadcasts and now Ukraine’s undermining of the credibility of both journalists and a democratically elected government are just some of the more high-profile examples of political leaders promoting falsehoods around the world. This, in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2149346/trump-putin-and-fake-news-can-be-resisted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2149346/trump-putin-and-fake-news-can-be-resisted?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jun 2018 18:03:49 +0000 Active resistance I grew up in Czechoslovakia, in the heart of Europe. We spent the weekends at my grandfather’s farm in the country, and during the week I went to school in Brno city, played soccer and was a naughty kid like anybody else. I read lots of travel books and dreamed about the countries, but couldn’t go. During 1968, when my country was invaded, my father was active in the anti-communist underground. The Russian occupation had a major impact on me as an eight-year-old boy. I remember... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2141550/escape-communist-czechoslovakia-how-one-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2141550/escape-communist-czechoslovakia-how-one-man?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Apr 2018 03:15:33 +0000 Following every mass shooting in the US, false optimism for change rises as media interest in gun-control spikes – for a few days. This time, over two weeks later, a group of media-savvy teenage survivors are not accepting “be quiet” as an answer. Soon after the Valentine’s Day massacre, 17-year-old Cameron Kasky and other survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School founded the #NeverAgain movement, with the aim of making this America’s last such massacre. Emma González has emerged as a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2135281/how-florida-school-shooting-survivors-are-shifting-battle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2135281/how-florida-school-shooting-survivors-are-shifting-battle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Mar 2018 03:15:00 +0000 From Hong Kong’s 2017 World Track Cycling Championships through to the Ashes, which concluded in Australia this week, the more progressive practises around the world cater for spectators with a variety of physical needs. Not every wheelchair user can transfer to a seat, but many would. Not every ambulant person can manage 20 or 30 stairs, but they may well climb a couple of rows to sit with friends. A separate “wheelchair row”, isolated from other spectators, is not ideal or necessary for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127918/good-bad-and-ugly-sides-international-sporting-events?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127918/good-bad-and-ugly-sides-international-sporting-events?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Jan 2018 03:36:56 +0000 Echoing 1930s imperial Japan, North Korea today is demanding respect. To use a phrase recently levelled at North Korea, by the 1930s Japan was “begging for war” (with China, at least), and an oil embargo merely hardened Japanese entrenchment. A total oil embargo against North Korea would be likely to provoke the same result as it did with imperial Japan – war with the US and friends. Last week, following a series of missile launches and an underground nuclear test, the US ambassador to the UN... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110975/total-oil-embargo-north-korea-would-only-lead-war-it-did?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110975/total-oil-embargo-north-korea-would-only-lead-war-it-did?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Sep 2017 07:20:49 +0000 I was born in Hong Kong in October 1941, together with my twin sister, Diana. She was bigger and brighter than me and taught me early on that women rule the world. We lived in a flat on The Peak, but my earliest memory is of when we were about 3½ years old, in the summer of 1945, in Stanley prisoner-of-war camp. I remember seeing a big American plane releasing a bomb that landed in the sea adjacent to our camp. A huge amount of fish were dynamited and floated up the beach, and we all got very... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2095648/hong-kong-war-child-surfer-biker-barrister-john?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2095648/hong-kong-war-child-surfer-biker-barrister-john?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 May 2017 02:45:50 +0000 We first came to Hong Kong in 1927, when I was eight years old. My father was an electrical engineer in the naval dockyard. We stayed for only two years, but he was reassigned to Hong Kong in 1938, so I returned with my parents and two sisters. After cold England, I liked everything about Hong Kong, except for the cockroaches and mosquitoes. We employed a cook amah, a wash amah and a junior makee-learn – so we three girls no longer had to take turns to do the chores. For much of the year we... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2061274/how-hong-kong-pow-barbara-anslow-killed-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2061274/how-hong-kong-pow-barbara-anslow-killed-time?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Jan 2017 22:02:05 +0000 Invasion of the New Territories and Kowloon: December 8-12, 1941 Before dawn on Monday, December 8, 75 years ago, Imperial Japanese troops in Guangdong stole over the border into Hong Kong. That same morning, the Japanese launched attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, British Malaya and Thailand. Barbara Anslow (née Redwood), then a young stenographer for Hong Kong’s colonial government, interviewed in November 2016 – “It was 6:30 in the morning. I was in bed when there came a ring at my... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2054842/battle-hong-kong-through-eyes-people-who-lived?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2054842/battle-hong-kong-through-eyes-people-who-lived?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Dec 2016 23:00:00 +0000 Last week, a heartfelt hug between Michelle Obama, wife of the current US Democratic president, and former Republican president George W. Bush demonstrated the warmth between the two first couples and went viral. Meanwhile, millions of viewers in the US – and more online around the world – tuned in to the first presidential debate of 2016, anticipating animosity between the two candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Nobody expected a show of unmitigated civility, and, in that respect,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2025335/trump-duterte-and-putin-prove-respectful-leaders-are-short?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2025335/trump-duterte-and-putin-prove-respectful-leaders-are-short?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Oct 2016 08:30:00 +0000 NO SAFE HAVEN I was born in 1934 in the Philippines, where my father worked for the Kodak photography company. In 1939, as war began in Europe and Japanese aggression swept through China, my parents sought a safe haven: we relocated to Hawaii. One Sunday morning, as a seven-year-old, I was on the beach near Honolulu with my brother, shooting crabs with our BB guns, when we were called home: the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor. Smoke billowed up from the naval base and I watched in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1939516/retired-us-top-gun-school-kowloon-seeing-pearl-harbour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1939516/retired-us-top-gun-school-kowloon-seeing-pearl-harbour?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Apr 2016 09:00:15 +0000 As a kid, I was the same - energetic and always trying to have fun. At primary school (in Valence, southeast France), I was top of the class, but from preschool through to university, I regularly got into trouble for messing around. I was a stupid teenager, overly familiar with alcohol - and worse. When I was 20, after dropping out of a business degree at university, I realised my life was going in the wrong direction, and I stopped hanging out with the wrong crowd. I worked as a hotel... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1906395/meet-frenchman-who-hitchhiked-home-hong-kong-1-euro-day?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1906395/meet-frenchman-who-hitchhiked-home-hong-kong-1-euro-day?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jan 2016 18:15:00 +0000 It’s US election year, and the next month will go a long way to naming the next leader of the world’s superpower. Presidential debates over the next two weeks take on far greater meaning, for Iowa and New Hampshire are almost upon us, where the election process for the presidency begins – and, for some, ends. It’s like the selection process for Hong Kong’s chief executive, except with a dose of democracy and lashings of campaign cash. In Washington, the establishment currently favours Hillary... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1900586/how-americas-own-version-one-country-two-systems-will-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1900586/how-americas-own-version-one-country-two-systems-will-help?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2016 04:13:36 +0000 History tells us that the next US president should be a Republican. At the end of every two-term presidency since 1954, the electorate has changed to the party in opposition on all occasions bar one. Mao Zedong privately told Richard Nixon he preferred Republicans: "I am comparatively happy when these people on the right come into power." In reply, Nixon boasted that "the important thing to note is that in America … those on the right can do what those on the left talk about." However, in the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1856989/americas-china-bashing-republican-presidential-hopefuls-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1856989/americas-china-bashing-republican-presidential-hopefuls-are?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:12:02 +0000 The waves of refugees and economic migrants attempting to cross the seas has too often been seen as a threat to be repelled. Now, certain key countries are suddenly implementing progressive policies for helping rather than turning away desperate individuals and families smuggled across the seas. This needs to be the beginning - not the peak - of regional and international cooperation on what is fundamentally a humanitarian issue. UN figures suggest that 25,000 refugees and migrants left Myanmar... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1809054/tide-slowly-turning-southeast-asias-boat-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1809054/tide-slowly-turning-southeast-asias-boat-people?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 May 2015 09:45:52 +0000 Last week, China and Russia announced their intention to plan joint commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war. Such cuddling up on the world stage may appear merely a modern political convenience against Western antipathy. The two countries seek to refresh history and commemorate only the sweet taste of a sweet and sour relationship. But when you look at the course the war ran for each of them, theirs was in part a shared experience. At the hands of fascistic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1724952/war-commemoration-china-and-russia-seek-historical-narrative?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1724952/war-commemoration-china-and-russia-seek-historical-narrative?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2015 08:22:42 +0000 Cars now motor over the Admiralty expressway as though nothing has changed. The thousands of Post-it notes which constituted the Lennon Wall have been taken down, to be rebuilt one day in a virtual archive for posterity, to inspire street protesters of the future. The mood at Admiralty during the forced retreat suggests many want that future to begin before the virtual paint dries in any archive gallery. Whereas "We'll be back" was the last-stand message at Admiralty, the pledge of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1665523/occupy-protesters-must-pick-their-next-battle-wisely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1665523/occupy-protesters-must-pick-their-next-battle-wisely?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Dec 2014 16:30:06 +0000 Unbridled democracy isn't going to happen and wouldn't work anyway. What could work is something much closer to full democracy than we were ever likely to see before the protesters asserted their case. China is not ready for democracy, the people of Hong Kong are. But be careful what you wish for: Beijing's fears are not unfounded. Should a public protest ever lead to Western-style democracy in Hong Kong, it would be a green light for rebellion across China. (Paradoxically, if we could rely on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1613673/end-day-hong-kong-should-get-better-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1613673/end-day-hong-kong-should-get-better-government?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Oct 2014 08:00:30 +0000 I was in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, where flags flew at half mast for the victims of flight MH17 and the key terms in the media coverage seemed to be "outrage" and "damning". The front page of Malaysia's The Star newspaper, for example, emphasised outrage from various world leaders - but exactly which leaders are the most outraged depends on each country's political biases and economic priorities. One hundred and ninety-three lives have weighed heavily on the mind of Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1557197/mh17-downing-underscores-worlds-dilemma-how-deal-putin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1557197/mh17-downing-underscores-worlds-dilemma-how-deal-putin?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:45:15 +0000 The history books misinform us that the cold war finished around 1990. Last month, Western sanctions on Ukraine provoked Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to compare the current situation with the cold war era. The fact that President Vladimir Putin played down such a comparison should make us more inclined to see its validity. In reality, the cold war has never stopped bubbling up (most obviously on the Korean peninsula), and now Russia's imperial resurgence has set new precedents that... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1540322/neo-cold-war-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1540322/neo-cold-war-world?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2014 08:45:45 +0000 The Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius may not be included in most city tours of Prague but it is only a hand grenade's throw from Charles Square, the centre of Prague's "New Town" - founded in 1348. (A kilometre upriver is the Old Town, which dates back to the 9th century.) Above ground, the baroque church is one of the Czech capital's many cream-cake facades but below, a moving exhibition is dedicated to the events of May and June 1942. Following their attack on SS security chief Reinhard... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1517797/soul-searching-prague?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1517797/soul-searching-prague?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 May 2014 15:00:00 +0000 "The 21st century belongs to Asia: discuss". That was the debate for the inaugural Asian alumni event for Oxford University, recently held in Hong Kong. Oxford dons on both sides of the motion agreed on the obvious: China's military will be taken increasingly seriously and its economy, together with India's, will drive Asia's rise for some time. But, ultimately, they also agreed on the less obvious, which is far more interesting. Arguing that the 21st century does indeed belong to Asia, Dr Linda... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1463940/asias-economic-rise-doesnt-mean-it-will-own-21st-century?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1463940/asias-economic-rise-doesnt-mean-it-will-own-21st-century?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Apr 2014 11:00:00 +0000 Russia has taken us back to imperialism by occupying a neighbouring country, but is Moscow's support for a vote for Crimeans to determine their own destiny such a terrible idea? It is if you're the government of China. Some misplaced arguments contend that a referendum is simply a totalitarian tool. No leader presses upon Western nerves more adeptly than President Vladimir Putin. The build-up to Sunday's planned referendum includes worrying reports of Crimean Tatars, who are generally Islamic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1447663/referendumin-crimea-brings-anxiety-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1447663/referendumin-crimea-brings-anxiety-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Mar 2014 05:00:30 +0000 The dawn of 2014 has seen historians and political commentators provide us with bold comparisons with 1914, and a world on the brink of a calamitous war. The US today may fit Britain of 1914. However, we are also supposed to believe that as Germany plunged into war against the superpower of the day then, today, China is on course to do likewise. So say many Western writers, including Oxford University Professor Margaret MacMillan, whose book The War That Ended Peace was published last... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1409698/no-echo-1914-chinas-rise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1409698/no-echo-1914-chinas-rise?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jan 2014 14:01:05 +0000 Prompted by the resolution that New Year heralds, one year ago I clicked on www.kiva.org and lent some money to an impoverished Cambodian farmer. By October, I had been paid back in full and Sophea had some fertiliser to boost her rice-growing and a motorbike to take her children to school. Believe it or not, microlending organisations attract criticism for such speedy repayments, because, so the argument goes, the donor's money may not go directly to - or be repaid by - the actual individual... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1393025/microlending-trust-repaid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1393025/microlending-trust-repaid?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Dec 2013 03:30:00 +0000 Hong Kong is one of the most advanced places in the world, but not when it comes to disability. For example, from Central to Causeway Bay, skyscrapers packed with medical clinics lack entrances with ramps. This is so absurd it's almost amusing. A world leader in disability rights, Britain has made it a legal requirement for public buildings to provide disabled parking and toilets since 1970. Here, even schools lack disabled parking and signage (so if there is a disabled entrance, you'd never... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1371189/hong-kong-has-long-way-go-disabled-rights-and-attitudes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1371189/hong-kong-has-long-way-go-disabled-rights-and-attitudes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Dec 2013 21:27:26 +0000 A recent report entitled "The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship" criticised the growing global reach of China's censorship and its unrestrained investment aimed at spreading state-sponsored media abroad. The report, by the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy, asserts that China's "efforts to influence reporting by foreign and overseas Chinese news outlets have intensified and expanded over the past five years", and points to a set of targets internally labelled "the five... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1345367/china-extends-its-censorship-reach?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1345367/china-extends-its-censorship-reach?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:21:40 +0000 The US shutdown is an embarrassment both for America and for democracy - and their leaders are admitting as much. This comes at a time when democracy is being dangled in front of, and debated within, a growing number of nations from the Arab world, and here in Hong Kong. Forced to stand in for President Barack Obama at this week's Apec meeting in Bali, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "those standing in the way [of a resolution] need to think long and hard about the message that we send... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1327183/fear-rule-political-party-speaks-narrow-interests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1327183/fear-rule-political-party-speaks-narrow-interests?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Have you heard today's worldwide call for peace? No? Neither have the Syrians. September 21 is International Peace Day and, this year, British non-governmental organisation Peace One Day estimates at least 600 million people will "be aware" of it. A variety of Hong Kong schools are commemorating the day, as are internationally minded schools in mainland China and beyond. Western leaders have rarely been less certain about whether aggression is best combatted with peace or violence. On military... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1313979/giving-peace-chance-proves-uphill-battle-world-tyrants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1313979/giving-peace-chance-proves-uphill-battle-world-tyrants?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Following the fastest ever 100-metre race by Paralympians last month, we should expect to see them lining up alongside Olympian sprinters such as Usain Bolt in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. I sat in the huge crowd at London's Anniversary Games, where Paralympians competed in the Olympic Stadium on the day after able-bodied athletes, and witnessed history-making performances. In one 100 metre race, five para-athletes achieved personal best times and Richard Browne (USA) and Alan Oliveira - trumpeted as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1294450/paralympians-prove-they-are-ready-rio-2016?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1294450/paralympians-prove-they-are-ready-rio-2016?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The cold war is commonly referred to as a topic of history, yet it is not over - it has just regrouped, and now we face history in the remaking. Today is George Orwell's birthday, and he's looking good for 110. He originated the term "cold war" in a 1945 article in the London Tribune, written shortly after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Orwell feared a divided world where nations become unconquerable - due to nuclear weapons - and in a "permanent state of 'cold war'." He predicted "an end to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1267984/cold-war-isnt-over-just-remade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1267984/cold-war-isnt-over-just-remade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Paradoxically, in order for Beijing to achieve its current objectives in the Korean Peninsula of stability and, moreover, a downsizing of the United States' presence, it must concede to displays of American military might in the region. It may be hard for pro-Western governments to comprehend, but China has long preferred Stalinism on its border to the likely alternative - an extension of US imperialism through a reunified Korea. China's preference for a bumper between itself and the US vassal... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1211623/beijing-rethinks-its-north-korea-policy-priorities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1211623/beijing-rethinks-its-north-korea-policy-priorities?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The international community has failed to help many of the world's poor. Could you or I do better without even spending a dollar? Around this time of year, many of us think about how we can make a tiny slice of the world a better place through giving to those in need. Too often, a disaster is required to persuade us our money won't be wasted. While short-term humanitarian aid is lauded, financing long-term development for poor communities is a contentious area. Critics enjoy nothing more than... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1117662/microlending-well-aimed-aid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1117662/microlending-well-aimed-aid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Does China pick better leaders than the US? Well, probably - but that's missing the point. During this period of leadership transition for two of the world's most powerful nations, the London-based Intelligence Squared organised a debate in Hong Kong on the motion, "China picks better leaders than the West". The US and Chinese political systems and national leaders were dissected, lambasted and praised, but when we consider selection versus election, the focus should be on those at the bottom of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075037/china-or-us-government-must-hear-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075037/china-or-us-government-must-hear-people?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Paralympic Games have come of age in London, close to where the movement began life in Stoke Mandeville in 1948. The athletes arrived in unprecedented numbers (over 4,000) and performed with extraordinary spirit and prowess, in front of large and enthusiastic crowds, the likes of which have never been seen before: 2.7 million Paralympic tickets were sold, surpassing sales targets by £10 million (HK$124 million). The Paralympic movement has come a long way since 1968, when the Olympic Games'... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1034342/paralympians-have-place-olympic-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1034342/paralympians-have-place-olympic-family?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Marx decried religion as the 'opium of the people'. The current position of the Chinese Communist Party is more ambivalent; indeed, some argue China's leaders see an appeal in the sedative effects of religion. Last week, former British prime minister and renowned Catholic Tony Blair visited China and promoted his worldwide Faith and Globalisation Initiative, conceived in conjunction with Yale University. Some see religion as a fundamental cause of problems around the globe; Blair has faith in it... https://www.scmp.com/article/1004515/little-faith-faith-could-help-heal-societys-troubles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1004515/little-faith-faith-could-help-heal-societys-troubles?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Multilateral sanctions were a rarity until the 1990s and it has taken time for Beijing to support the trend. China is now playing in the spirit of the new rules of the game - including penalising its oil-rich ally, Iran - but keeping it quiet. Being a responsible member of international society traditionally meant adhering to the now outmoded principle of non-intervention in other nations' affairs. But during the period when Dengism led China towards embracing international society, new... https://www.scmp.com/article/979591/beijing-plays-international-rules-its-own-terms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/979591/beijing-plays-international-rules-its-own-terms?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 China's foreign aid strategy in Africa stands accused of favouring resource-laden nations, downplaying issues of 'good governance' and prioritising infrastructure over other development needs: China's onto something - and the West knows it. Following the record rise in food prices this year, condemning millions more into extreme poverty and hunger, the last month has seen the G20's inaugural meeting of agriculture ministers focus on food security, the release of the UN's Millennium Development... https://www.scmp.com/article/973890/aid-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/973890/aid-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Despite continuing negative press in recent human rights reports, including the Freedom House survey, China is on a path likely to lead to democracy - eventually. Although it does not inevitably follow that reaching a certain level of economic development will precipitate democratisation - as Singapore's experience signifies - the legacy of China's economic liberalisation will be a cultural shift entailing a growing demand for political reform. The 'democratic sequencing' argument asserts that... https://www.scmp.com/article/735926/open-market-will-herald-wider-freedoms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/735926/open-market-will-herald-wider-freedoms?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Despite China's long-standing ties to Iran, the rising Middle Eastern power is increasingly considered too risky - even for Beijing. In addition to the economic and energy security gains to be made from supporting a state rich in natural resources, China has in the past tried to position itself at the head of the developing world with Iran as a key ally. China respects an old civilisation and a rising power seeking nuclear parity with others. Beijing's past military aid for Iran was designed... https://www.scmp.com/article/733852/energy-security-risky-business-iran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/733852/energy-security-risky-business-iran?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:00:00 +0000 The focal point of the evening, and indeed the reason for my having left my rural Umbrian retreat, is a 9pm appointment with Alicia. However, I have arrived early in Perugia, my interest piqued by guidebook descriptions that characterise the central Italian city as a 'hilltop Etruscan treasure trove' and a 'widely disregarded medieval gem'. Most agree that a blend of historical riches and effervescent nightlife creates an alluring ambience. Towering high above the surrounding plains, its city... https://www.scmp.com/article/716289/keys-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/716289/keys-city?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:00:00 +0000