https://www.scmp.com/rss/311729/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A series of audacious player signings and investments in European clubs has put China’s soccer ambitions on the map. As soccer fans around the world are now aware, China has decided to become a soccer power and, as it usually does, is putting its money where its mouth is. At home, the Chinese Super League has been reanimated and a huge amount of money earmarked for infrastructure, training facilities and expertise that China hopes will eventually improve the fortunes of the national team. At the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2019249/can-china-achieve-its-goal-becoming-major-soccer-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2019249/can-china-achieve-its-goal-becoming-major-soccer-power?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Sep 2016 04:10:47 +0000 When erstwhile Kuomintang presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu, 67, was asked to comment on the suicide of a troubled young man protesting at the national curriculum last summer, her response was sympathetic and in character. “It’s a terrible shame,” she said, adding that “kids don’t know any better” (小孩子不懂事 ). READ MORE: Taiwan’s opposition leader highlights risk of close ties with China as election looms The phrase, implying that younger generations don’t understand worldly affairs, is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1899047/taiwan-old-guard-struggles-win-hearts-and-minds-young?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1899047/taiwan-old-guard-struggles-win-hearts-and-minds-young?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jan 2016 04:26:34 +0000 It is not news that, in Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, is heading for victory on January 16. She has enjoyed a double-digit lead across all polls throughout the year, and recently crossed the psychological 50-point mark, ahead of her rivals, Eric Chu of the Kuomintang and James Soong of the People First Party. Seasoned Taiwan watchers know to take media polls with a pinch of salt. But the consensus across the political spectrum is that Tsai is a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1893877/livelihood-issues-set-tone-taiwans-presidential-election-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1893877/livelihood-issues-set-tone-taiwans-presidential-election-not?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Dec 2015 09:40:14 +0000 When Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou shake hands on Saturday in Singapore, it will be the first time in history that sitting presidents from the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China will have met each other face to face, even if they will not address each other as such. The symbolism is rich, particularly on the PRC side, where the image of a Taiwan returning to the fold is more powerful than scenes of Xi rubbing shoulders with US President Barack Obama or being received in state by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1876209/strategic-intentions-behind-xi-jinpings-meeting-ma-ying-jeou?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1876209/strategic-intentions-behind-xi-jinpings-meeting-ma-ying-jeou?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Nov 2015 09:15:30 +0000 The Kuomintang is expected to confirm Hung Hsiu-chu as its first female presidential candidate, ahead of the 2016 election, at its party congress next month. Hung, currently the deputy speaker in Taiwan's legislature, has already passed the first step to nomination: a combined party and public vote. If, as expected, Hung's nomination is confirmed, it will pit her head-to-head with Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party. For an East Asian polity with a significant "Confucian... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1825558/kmts-gamble-dogmatic-presidential-hopeful-hung-hsiu-chu-may?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1825558/kmts-gamble-dogmatic-presidential-hopeful-hung-hsiu-chu-may?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jun 2015 09:30:00 +0000 It is normal practice for Taiwan, but it bears repeating. At a time when students and activists in Hong Kong are fighting for the right to some semblance of democratic competition, millions of Taiwanese participated in a democratic exercise unprecedented in scale on Saturday. The "nine-in-one" island-wide local elections that saw over 11,000 public offices up for grabs went off smoothly and without the merest hint of violence. The only barricades and barbed wire on show in Taiwan on Saturday... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1653999/dpp-strengthens-its-hand-2016-landslide-win-local-elections?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1653999/dpp-strengthens-its-hand-2016-landslide-win-local-elections?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2014 09:55:52 +0000 Soon after the official announcement that former security tsar Zhou Yongkang was under investigation, various provinces, cities and departments began lining up to declare their support for the wisdom and rectitude of Xi Jinping's decision. Among them were Zhou's first and last places of work - the public security system, Sichuan province and China National Petroleum Corporation. They made sure to declare their support for Xi and distance themselves from their disgraced former patron. Publicly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1579311/declarations-loyalty-feature-chinas-dog-eat-dog-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1579311/declarations-loyalty-feature-chinas-dog-eat-dog-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Aug 2014 18:45:30 +0000 Xi Jinping's intense nine-day tour of Latin America last month yielded significant gains for Beijing's strategy in the region and in the broader strategic arena vis-à-vis the United States. Moving beyond purely economic interactions, Beijing is content that Xi's trip has reinforced political relationships that will ultimately temper American influence in the region and help counter the US rebalance policy. Ever since Washington announced its intention to "rebalance" to Asia, China perceives that... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1567006/chinasties-latin-americacounter-us-rebalance-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1567006/chinasties-latin-americacounter-us-rebalance-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Aug 2014 09:45:15 +0000 For Prime Minister David Cameron and the British government, Premier Li Keqiang's recent visit could not have gone better. The two sides announced a series of huge investments in British infrastructure and energy, expanded trade opportunities and moves to increase the number of Chinese tourists and students. Diplomatic relations, which turned frosty following Cameron's meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2012, are back on track. Cameron achieved all this with barely a dissenting murmur from the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1538926/chinas-economic-power-buys-british-silence-human-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1538926/chinas-economic-power-buys-british-silence-human-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:00:30 +0000 Barack Obama used his recent Westpoint military academy address to outline his foreign policy for the remaining term of his presidency and set out the principles for American global leadership in the longer term. He didn't say much about China directly - invoking the seriousness of cyberattacks, but not naming China as a major perpetrator. He mentioned the South China Sea, but only to say that the US supports Southeast Asian nations in their attempts to negotiate disputes according to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1528123/china-faces-new-realities-us-interference-its-own-backyard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1528123/china-faces-new-realities-us-interference-its-own-backyard?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jun 2014 19:30:15 +0000 In imperial times, many Chinese on the receiving end of injustices in the provinces would travel to the seat of the emperor in the hope of redress from a benevolent ruler. The political system may have changed but the practice is more popular than ever. There is a sophisticated and long-standing bureaucratic mechanism for processing such petitions: the benign-sounding State Bureau for Letters and Calls. At last count, it was stamping 20,000 a day, but that may be about to change. On April 23,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1519636/china-must-follow-through-pledges-improve-notorious-petition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1519636/china-must-follow-through-pledges-improve-notorious-petition?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 May 2014 11:15:00 +0000 One of the world's largest footwear manufacturers, Yue Yuen, is in many ways typical. A Taiwanese firm listed in Hong Kong, it has numerous factories based in the southern China manufacturing belt, making shoes emblazoned with stripes and swooshes for sale around the world. In recent weeks, it has also faced an increasingly typical problem for companies located in China - an aggrieved and angry workforce. In Yue Yuen's case, demands for proper treatment shut down operations across two... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1499178/china-cant-ignore-workers-well-being-if-it-wants-avert-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1499178/china-cant-ignore-workers-well-being-if-it-wants-avert-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:30:30 +0000 The sudden eruption of student protests in Taiwan, ostensibly against the cross-strait services and trade agreement but incorporating wider concerns about President Ma Ying-jeou's government, has elicited minimal coverage in the mainland media. Due to controls exerted on the media, it has been difficult to find reports or analysis of the Taiwan student movement. One exception, an editorial in the Global Times on March 24, was emblematic of the tone of coverage of the escalating protests: a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1462482/taiwan-protests-view-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1462482/taiwan-protests-view-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Apr 2014 09:45:00 +0000 Chinese society has been enthralled by the case of Sichuan businessman Liu Han , who was charged last week with various violent crimes, including murder. But, as unusual and scandalous as the revelations about Liu's mafia-style operations are, of even greater significance is the identity of the political protectors behind him. In China, violent crime is usually crude and the tools of the trade unsophisticated. In Liu's case, police apparently seized advanced and strictly controlled weapons and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1440813/sichuan-tycoon-liu-hans-fall-underlines-culture-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1440813/sichuan-tycoon-liu-hans-fall-underlines-culture-political?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Mar 2014 03:15:45 +0000 The appointment of Premier Li Keqiang to the Communist Party's powerful new state security committee should serve to dampen speculation inside and outside China that President Xi Jinping is weakening the role of his No 2 in a bid to consolidate power. Li has been named vice-chairman of the National Security Commission following his inclusion in the Central Leading Group for Overall Reform, which is tasked with implementing a bold set of economic reforms. The twin announcement surprised those who... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1425253/talk-li-keqiang-being-sidelined-not-backed-power-shuffle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1425253/talk-li-keqiang-being-sidelined-not-backed-power-shuffle?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Feb 2014 11:00:15 +0000 Whispers surrounding President Xi Jinping's "tiger hunt" - a metaphor for going after corrupt senior government officials - have been circulating ever since he assumed the top positions in party and state in 2012. In recent days, many Chinese-language media outside mainland China have reported that Xi's tiger hunt is about to pay dividends, with the "capture" of former security tsar Zhou Yongkang . Until 2012, Zhou was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, with oversight for the police,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1402129/zhou-yongkang-wont-easily-escape-net-xis-corruption?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1402129/zhou-yongkang-wont-easily-escape-net-xis-corruption?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jan 2014 03:30:00 +0000