https://www.scmp.com/rss/269610/feed Martin Murphy is a former US diplomat and banker with 25 years’ experience in EU and Asian affairs. He is the author of Europe 1992: A Business Guide to US Government Resources. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Of all the foreign policy challenges facing US President-elect Joe Biden, none will be more consequential than a revitalisation of the transatlantic partnership. One of the best ways to do that is with a massive trade deal with the European Union. The task will not be easy, though. The United States opted for a “pivot to Asia” under former president Barack Obama, while sitting President Donald Trump’s disdain for the entire EU concept, support for Brexit and tariff war with Europe have sunk... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3112123/how-us-eu-trade-deal-would-bolster-democratic-values-and-global?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3112123/how-us-eu-trade-deal-would-bolster-democratic-values-and-global?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Dec 2020 17:30:06 +0000 China's recent beggar-thy-neighbour devaluation of the yuan is a reminder that "Asia's world city" has yet to live up to its name. Its over-reliance on the mainland is becoming a perilous venture. Having grown fat and lazy on mainland tourism and entrepot services, some of Hong Kong's pillar economic sectors are now facing the double whammy of both a slowing Chinese economy and a cheaper yuan. While Beijing likes to talk grandly of Hong Kong's role in its five-year plans, the reality is that... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1852094/hong-kong-needs-rely-less-mainland-and-more-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1852094/hong-kong-needs-rely-less-mainland-and-more-world?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Aug 2015 06:39:21 +0000 John F. Kennedy once said, "No matter how big the lie, repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth." China's officials, mouthpieces and supporters should know what he was talking about. Their thinking is that if they accuse foreign powers of "intervening" or "meddling" in Hong Kong's affairs often enough, people will start to believe it. Beijing's recent complaints about US Vice-President Joe Biden meeting two stalwarts from Hong Kong's democracy camp were the latest in a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1504281/beijings-double-standards-diplomatic-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1504281/beijings-double-standards-diplomatic-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 May 2014 19:00:15 +0000 Beijing loathes it. The Hong Kong government rejects it. And the US Congress has all but forgotten about it. It is in need of a comeback. The US-Hong Kong Policy Act, passed in 1992 by Congress, gave Hong Kong its legal status in US law after 1997. Its mission was to safeguard US business interests. But its guiding light was the overarching principle that US support for democracy would drive its policy towards Hong Kong. While its exhortations tracked China's stated policies for the new SAR, it... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1317611/hong-kongs-trade-partners-rely-success-one-country-two?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1317611/hong-kongs-trade-partners-rely-success-one-country-two?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 After all the breathless commentary about the Edward Snowden cyberspying case is said and done, and the hero-villain rides off into the sunset, critics of America will be left with an unsettling reality. Little will have changed in what many now see as a massive surveillance state in the US. Like the military-industrial complex before it, the US surveillance and intelligence community is now a multibillion-dollar industry with deeply entrenched interests, a robust government-business-private... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1268782/snowden-revelations-wont-change-scale-us-spying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1268782/snowden-revelations-wont-change-scale-us-spying?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 One of the most spectacular migrations on the planet is now under way, and Hong Kong, as it has been for centuries, is at its heart. While not as breathtaking as the running of the great wildebeests on the Serengeti, the mass movement of Asia's migratory waterbirds is nonetheless astonishing in scale and rich in biological significance. The birds travel on what is called the "East Asian-Australasian Flyway", one of the world's most important waterbird routes. It spans 13,000 kilometres and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1216823/development-pressure-mai-po-reserve-shows-need-action?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1216823/development-pressure-mai-po-reserve-shows-need-action?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 "There you go again" has become one of the most memorable lines in US presidential debate history. It was 1980, and Ronald Reagan used it famously to dismiss president Jimmy Carter's repeated misrepresentations of his plans for social security reform. I am reminded of this line every time I hear someone, usually a Chinese official, think tank, or academic refer to US policy in Asia, the so-called "pivot" or rebalancing, as a grand plot to contain China. But even the Western media are prone to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1082460/us-has-no-intention-trying-contain-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1082460/us-has-no-intention-trying-contain-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Far removed from today's headlines for the most part, a small but highly influential group of major trading countries has been meeting over the past two years to map out the next generation of trade rules for the Asia-Pacific region. This collective, unexcitingly called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, originated from a grouping formed in 2005, not by the United States or any of the region's economic heavyweights, but by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Since then, five other economies -... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1030179/hk-has-much-gain-tpp-trade-pact?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1030179/hk-has-much-gain-tpp-trade-pact?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000