https://www.scmp.com/rss/274726/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com If the British aircraft carrier strike group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth – which conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea earlier this week – were to be fired upon by Chinese forces for intruding into what China claims as its territorial waters, it would be the second time in less than 100 years. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) did just that to four British warships in April 1949 to drive them away from a stretch of water in the Yangtze River. This episode went down... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3143887/britains-warship-transits-south-china-sea-memories-1949-yangtze?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3143887/britains-warship-transits-south-china-sea-memories-1949-yangtze?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Aug 2021 06:30:57 +0000 Are China and the United States sliding farther down the slippery slope towards war, albeit a limited one, probably in the South China Sea? The sharp deterioration of Sino-American relations in recent months would suggest that they are – unless halted by the exercise of exceptional political wisdom and statesmanship on both sides. The latest round of high-level talks in Honolulu offered little hope for optimism. It was described as “constructive”, which, in diplomatic-speak, means both sides... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3090254/could-us-china-rivalry-lead-war-history-shows-it-might?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3090254/could-us-china-rivalry-lead-war-history-shows-it-might?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:00:15 +0000 Those in the West who blame China for the Covid-19 pandemic and demand reparations for the damage to their economies have probably done Beijing a favour. They have unwittingly – or perhaps unthinkingly – reopened a scar that is deep in the Chinese psyche and given the party more of the ammunition it needs to rally the people against what it has portrayed as hostile moves to put China down. Such accusations further add fuel to the fire of ardent nationalists, who have long cautioned that China... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3084366/why-china-wont-be-paying-west-covid-19-reparations-any-time-soon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3084366/why-china-wont-be-paying-west-covid-19-reparations-any-time-soon?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 May 2020 21:00:21 +0000 China and the United States may have stepped back, for now, from their war of words on the origins of Covid-19 and the labelling of it as the “China” or “Wuhan” virus, but the facts have still to be established. Some might argue that we should move on and not be mired in an unproductive blame game. But that is not the point. Getting to the bottom of it all has nothing to do with politics. Instead, it is about uncovering the truth, because that will guide governments when they need to formulate... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3078992/we-need-uncover-origins-coronavirus-and-us-has-many-questions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3078992/we-need-uncover-origins-coronavirus-and-us-has-many-questions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Apr 2020 10:00:29 +0000 The Hong Kong government’s ban on the wearing of masks at public gatherings seems, at best, a half-measure and thus is unlikely to be enough, on its own, to quell what is clearly an orchestrated uprising. The need to do more is palpable, yet Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor clings to the position that further measures are not yet necessary. Without putting too fine a point on it, Hong Kong is staring at something perilously close to anarchy. It is no exaggeration that ordinary citizens... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3032801/hong-kongs-anarchy-cries-out-forceful-response?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/3032801/hong-kongs-anarchy-cries-out-forceful-response?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Oct 2019 06:31:17 +0000 It is tempting to dismiss as a farce the spectacle of Joshua Wong and two other activists urging the United States Congress last week to punish Hong Kong for stifling freedom and democracy – but that would be missing the point. No doubt their testimony before a Congressional panel was pure political theatre, but that does not mean one should not reflect on what the episode was really about, and what it portends for China and Hong Kong. Ostensibly, the hearing was called to deliberate on the Hong... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3030733/us-bill-hong-kong-democracy-real-target-china-city-should-speak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3030733/us-bill-hong-kong-democracy-real-target-china-city-should-speak?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Sep 2019 06:15:08 +0000 Why has Macau, a former colony like Hong Kong and just an hour’s ferry ride away, been spared the political turmoil that is now threatening to tear the latter apart? This must be one of the questions asked by the many Singaporeans and other observers who have been watching in sorrow the sad spectacle of a once-vibrant Hong Kong writhing helplessly as it spirals towards what seems like mass political suicide in slow motion. Three reasons come to mind. The first is that there is an ideological... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3020177/why-macau-has-been-spared-political-turmoil-now-gripping-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3020177/why-macau-has-been-spared-political-turmoil-now-gripping-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jul 2019 23:30:04 +0000 A picture circulating on social media of a young man who was protesting against Hong Kong’s bid to amend its extradition law, holding a placard that says “Don’t let Hong Kong be like Singapore where people live in fear”, has raised quite a few eyebrows in the island nation. Many Singaporeans take umbrage at the words in the placard – though equally, there must be some who agree, to varying degrees, with this indictment of our country and society. I would argue that the latter are a minority. I... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3015595/hong-kong-extradition-bill-no-singapore-living-fear-city-ripping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3015595/hong-kong-extradition-bill-no-singapore-living-fear-city-ripping?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jun 2019 05:15:12 +0000 What stiffens the back of China’s leaders and people as they confront a United States bent on subjugating their country through economic and other means? I would argue that it is their collective memory of the century of humiliation by foreign powers that began with the First Opium War (1839-1842), a period of unforgettable injury to national pride best captured in that infamous sign “Dogs and Chinese not allowed” which was hung at the entrance of a park in the so-called British concession... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3012679/trumps-biggest-mistake-us-china-trade-war-not-realising-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3012679/trumps-biggest-mistake-us-china-trade-war-not-realising-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Jun 2019 03:30:05 +0000 US President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to pull all American troops out of Syria is yet another chilling reminder that those who believe in pledges and assurances made by the US do so at their peril. While his generals and European allies may fret over the geopolitical implications of his capricious move, it is the US-backed Kurdish forces, fighting on America’s behalf against Islamic State in northeastern Syria, who will bear the brunt of the repercussions. It is almost certain Turkey,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2179625/why-donald-trumps-exit-syria-another-lesson-asia-trusting-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2179625/why-donald-trumps-exit-syria-another-lesson-asia-trusting-us?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Dec 2018 23:00:45 +0000 There are lessons to be learned from the rise and decline of Venice as the foremost naval and economic power in the Mediterranean between the early 12th and late 18th century – but which are the pertinent ones for Singaporeans? I can think of at least two. First, Venice rose to become a great maritime empire (Stato da Mar in the Venetian dialect) because it gave its citizens a say in their governance and a chance to share in its growing prosperity. In 1171, the powers of the Doge, the de facto... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2172971/lesson-singapore-concentration-power-few-led-venices-downfall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2172971/lesson-singapore-concentration-power-few-led-venices-downfall?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Nov 2018 02:00:30 +0000 It is well known that former Ming Pao owner and editor Louis Cha, better known as Jin Yong the celebrated writer of martial arts novels, co-founded the Shin Min Daily News in Singapore. Less well known is that he once offered to sell his Hong Kong paper to the Singapore media company that owned The Straits Times. I know – because I was the person he sounded out through an intermediary. I had nearly forgotten about this little episode until news of his death on October 30 jolted my memory. At... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2171352/louis-cha-asked-me-if-singapores-straits-times-would-buy-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2171352/louis-cha-asked-me-if-singapores-straits-times-would-buy-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Nov 2018 05:00:30 +0000 Are there lessons Beijing can draw from the first opium war (1839-42) as it faces an increasingly adversarial United States that regards China as a threat to its strategic dominance? That war saw a British force of about 20,000 troops sail to defeat a Chinese army of more than 220,000 marshalled by the Qing dynasty then ruling China. It marked the beginning of what has been seared into the Chinese memory as “100 years of humiliation” by foreign powers. Chinese leaders through the years would... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2168221/might-trumps-right-lessons-learned-china-opium-wars-ring-true?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2168221/might-trumps-right-lessons-learned-china-opium-wars-ring-true?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2018 08:00:00 +0000 The escalating trade war between China and the United States is more than just a mighty tussle over imports and exports – and the elite in both Beijing and the West know it. It is, in effect, a battle of the utmost strategic importance, pitting China against a coterie of Western nations that see it as the gravest threat to their dominance of the existing world order. Slapping on tariffs is just the opening salvo. On the one side, there is the clear (if not publicly admitted) goal of slowing down... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2165717/korean-war-trade-war-china-has-trump-card-against-us-resilience?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2165717/korean-war-trade-war-china-has-trump-card-against-us-resilience?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Sep 2018 05:00:15 +0000 South Korean President Moon Jae-in cannot have been serious when he (reportedly) said his American counterpart deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution in ending the stand-off with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme.  According to a Reuters report, an official from the presidential Blue House in Seoul said President Moon had made the comment in response to a congratulatory message from Lee Hee Ho, widow of his predecessor Kim Dae-jung.  Perhaps Moon was just being polite and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2144530/nobel-peace-prize-us-president-donald-trump-last-thing-world-needs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2144530/nobel-peace-prize-us-president-donald-trump-last-thing-world-needs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 May 2018 03:00:45 +0000 Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s declaration at the close of the National People’s Congress last month that his country would never seek hegemony or engage in expansion is likely to ring hollow in Western corridors of power. Such is the entrenched mindset of many Western politicians and their advisers on strategy and foreign policy that they just cannot conceive of a rising power not wanting to lord it over others, especially those within the sphere of its influence through sheer economic and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2141661/what-would-chinese-hegemony-look-lot-us-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2141661/what-would-chinese-hegemony-look-lot-us-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Apr 2018 04:31:31 +0000 The latest spat between the United States and China following the entry of an American destroyer into waters within 12 nautical miles of an island over which Beijing has claimed sovereignty is certain to draw international attention again to the rapid military build-up by the Chinese in the South China Sea.  China has dubbed the USS Mustin’s foray into waters near Mischief Reef as a “serious military provocation” and said it had to dispatch two frigates to “warn off” the American destroyer,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2139073/whats-behind-beijings-south-china-sea-moves-and-why-us-patrols?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2139073/whats-behind-beijings-south-china-sea-moves-and-why-us-patrols?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Mar 2018 23:00:00 +0000 Can China and Japan, the second- and third-largest economies in the world, ever set aside their historical enmity and work together closely for the collective good of all in this part of the world? This is not an idle or naive question. In fact, it is quite apposite in view of the escalating tension between them over territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea, with each sending more and more fighter aircraft and warships to those contentious waters to test the other’s resolve, thus... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2011647/how-japan-and-china-can-put-past-behind-them-and-move?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2011647/how-japan-and-china-can-put-past-behind-them-and-move?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Aug 2016 05:30:30 +0000 What are the chances of war breaking out between Japan and China over their competing claims of sovereignty over the tiny islands which the former call Senkaku and the latter Diaoyu? This was the question posed by a junior Japanese parliamentarian to a respected political grandee from the pre-war era. They were soaking in a private onsen two hours' drive from Tokyo. The young man had secured the meeting with the sensei - the respectful term used to address very senior figures in Japanese... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1052442/japan-picks-wrong-time-test-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1052442/japan-picks-wrong-time-test-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000