https://www.scmp.com/rss/322124/feed Dong Lei is an independent observer of Chinese politics and history, with a particular interest in China’s evolving role in global affairs. He is currently writing a book on international relations, examining China’s strategic posture and its impact on the world order. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Dong Lei Dong Lei Last week’s deadly fire has cast a heavy shadow over Hong Kong, reminding us of the fragility of life and the need for solidarity in hard times. The central government has responded swiftly with its full attention and support. Aid and sympathy have poured in from across China, underscoring that Hong Kong’s pain is shared. The cause of the fire must be investigated and learned from in due course, but for now the priority is resilience. The announcement that the Legislative Council election will... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3334960/legco-poll-chance-hong-kong-show-its-resilience-after-tai-po-fire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3334960/legco-poll-chance-hong-kong-show-its-resilience-after-tai-po-fire?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Dec 2025 01:30:09 +0000 Dong Lei Dong Lei Only fools fail to see how very brittle our world is. Technological upheaval, climate instability and geopolitical entropy have rendered the international order fragile. Institutional trust is eroding. In such a time, the wisest act may be restraint. Yet on November 7 in Brussels, the Taiwanese vice-president stood before a body that styles itself as the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and laid out her views on the dangers of mainland China. Around the same time in Tokyo, Japan’s... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3333335/taiwan-must-exercise-restraint-not-engage-political-theatre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3333335/taiwan-must-exercise-restraint-not-engage-political-theatre?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Nov 2025 21:30:10 +0000 Dong Lei Dong Lei Rare earths were once a quiet part of global trade. Many people probably didn’t know what they were or why they mattered. That changed during the US-China trade war under the first Trump administration. Suddenly, these 17 obscure elements became headline material – not because they were new, but because they were everywhere: in electric vehicles, smartphones and weapons systems. And China controls the lion’s share of the global supply. This dominance didn’t happen by accident. China has spent... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329008/us-wont-benefit-treating-china-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329008/us-wont-benefit-treating-china-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Dong Lei Dong Lei A young Winston Churchill once warned: “The wars of peoples will be more terrible than those of kings.” In our current moment, this warning feels less like prophecy and more like diagnosis. Across the globe, nationalism is no longer a quiet undercurrent; it is a dominant force shaping identities, policies and personal destinies. And nowhere is this more visible than in the two most influential powers of our time, the United States and China. In the US, the death of Charlie Kirk, a young... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3325534/why-charlie-kirks-killing-holds-warning-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3325534/why-charlie-kirks-killing-holds-warning-world?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:30:08 +0000 Dong Lei Dong Lei For years, Hong Kong’s policy narrative has leaned heavily into national security. From the national security law to Article 23 legislation, the emphasis on stability and control has reshaped the city’s global identity. But with geopolitical tensions showing signs of stabilising, the moment is ripe for a strategic shift. The next global chapter isn’t just about containment and scarcity, it is also about creation and abundance. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms means... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3318435/hong-kongs-future-lies-being-finance-launch-pad-tomorrows-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3318435/hong-kongs-future-lies-being-finance-launch-pad-tomorrows-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Jul 2025 01:30:09 +0000 Dong Lei Dong Lei The establishment of the International Organisation for Mediation in Hong Kong marks a significant milestone. This initiative presents an opportunity for the city to cement its status as a global mediation hub, fostering peaceful dialogue and dispute resolution in a rapidly evolving world. Success, however, depends on the local leadership’s ability to build trust and demonstrate a commitment to internationally recognised legal standards. The global body’s presence in Hong Kong could offer a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3312626/global-mediation-body-chance-hong-kong-prove-sceptics-wrong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3312626/global-mediation-body-chance-hong-kong-prove-sceptics-wrong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Jun 2025 01:30:08 +0000 With Donald Trump back in the Oval Office, TikTok is back online for American users. One intriguing aspect of the TikTok ban saga is that hundreds of thousands of users in the US have migrated to RedNote, the Mandarin-based social media app known as Xiaohongshu in China. For many of these young Americans, gleefully self-styled as TikTok refugees, it was their first direct interaction with mainland Chinese people. This contact is revealing important facts about the state of our world, in... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3295538/us-and-china-should-follow-lead-their-youth-bonding-rednote?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3295538/us-and-china-should-follow-lead-their-youth-bonding-rednote?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2025 21:30:09 +0000 The imposition of martial law in South Korea by President Yoon Suk-yeol was short-lived but the news reverberated globally, leaving many to ponder the depths of his political miscalculation. The move, which exacerbated his precarious position, is a stark reminder that leaders, regardless of their stature, are fallible. The gravest errors often stem from too intense a focus on self-serving interests at the expense of broader, more significant concerns. US president-elect Donald Trump, known for... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3290018/korea-instability-should-prompt-us-china-put-aside-self-interests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3290018/korea-instability-should-prompt-us-china-put-aside-self-interests?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Dec 2024 21:30:08 +0000 The United States finds itself at a critical juncture in its policy approach towards China. In a recent Foreign Policy article, former US congressman Mike Gallagher and former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger urge the US to win against China. However, they fail to articulate a clear goal, offering only a nebulous assertion that the US must prevail in a new cold war. With trade between the two nations amounting to US$758.4 billion in 2022, labelling the current tensions as a new... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3278081/us-china-must-pitch-help-vital-track-2-dialogue-succeed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3278081/us-china-must-pitch-help-vital-track-2-dialogue-succeed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:30:09 +0000 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent visit to Beijing saw discussions on many issues with Chinese leaders. One was the illicit trade in fentanyl, a lab-made opioid, abuse of which has reached crisis levels in the United States. I believe we are likely to see a breakthrough on this soon. I can see Beijing increasing its cooperation with US government agencies on controlling precursor chemicals being exported from China. This would be a good step towards improving trust between two of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3225561/impact-us-china-breakthrough-fentanyl-crisis-would-transcend-public-health?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3225561/impact-us-china-breakthrough-fentanyl-crisis-would-transcend-public-health?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jul 2023 17:00:09 +0000 Earlier this month, a joke about two stray dogs and a popular Chinese military slogan – from a speech by President Xi Jinping – was deemed an insult to the People’s Liberation Army, causing an uproar in China that landed the comedian and the company that represents him in trouble. The company has been fined millions of yuan and the police opened an investigation into the comedian. Nationalistic Chinese netizens defended the harsh punishments, with some claiming such disrespect towards the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3222220/what-east-and-west-can-learn-chinese-comedians-pla-joke-backfired?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3222220/what-east-and-west-can-learn-chinese-comedians-pla-joke-backfired?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 May 2023 00:15:15 +0000 Hong Kong’s social upheaval only petered out under the double whammy of a transplanted national security law and the Covid-19 pandemic. As pre-pandemic life resumes, we will return to Hong Kong’s political evolution. Politicians in Hong Kong could learn from Winston Churchill’s observation that in history lie all the secrets of statecraft. Or from Henry Kissinger’s book, Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy, in which he writes that great leaders must be able to withstand solitude, sustained... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3203981/better-future-hong-kongs-leaders-must-study-chinas-past?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3203981/better-future-hong-kongs-leaders-must-study-chinas-past?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Dec 2022 00:15:11 +0000 Over the weekend, there were protests in several major cities in China over Covid-19 restrictions. In response, some commentators including the “China doomsday” prophet Gordon Chang are again predicting the beginning of the end for Communist Party rule, while others such as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his first major foreign policy speech, cited the protest crackdowns as evidence of Beijing’s challenge to Western values. The protests in China are reactions of Covid-19 restriction... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201458/why-politicise-chinas-zero-covid-protests-when-its-just-covid-fatigue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201458/why-politicise-chinas-zero-covid-protests-when-its-just-covid-fatigue?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Dec 2022 19:30:13 +0000 To those wishing to see a rapid conclusion to the war in Ukraine, including many in China, the West’s approach seems rather peculiar. In the wake of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Uzbekistan, during which Russian President Vladimir Putin noted China’s “questions and concerns”, Western coverage seemed more concerned with driving a wedge between China and Russia than ending the war on mutually agreeable terms. This follows a US pressure campaign on China’s refusal to condemn... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193289/why-us-provoking-china-if-it-needs-beijing-help-end-ukraine-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3193289/why-us-provoking-china-if-it-needs-beijing-help-end-ukraine-war?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Sep 2022 03:30:47 +0000 There is considerable reason for China to pursue a policy of discreet mediation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Such a policy is in China’s own interests and would benefit the global economy, but these factors are not the most critical considerations. Some argue that China should accept the virtue of Western sanctions and condemn Russia. Meanwhile, certain extreme internet users want Beijing to aid Russia or stand idly by as the world burns. There are arguments for these positions and both sides... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3172347/china-need-not-pick-side-russia-ukraine-war-it-should-mediate-peace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3172347/china-need-not-pick-side-russia-ukraine-war-it-should-mediate-peace?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2022 19:30:20 +0000 The MTR Corporation, in its headlong pursuit of profit from its real estate endeavours, has lost sight of its true function: to serve the people of Hong Kong. Its original and most important purpose is to meet Hong Kong’s public transport needs and, in part to secure the sustainability of that obligation, the corporation was permitted to dabble in real estate. But these activities soon proved so profitable that they became the company’s main business, and consequently, have contributed to the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3145495/mtr-corp-should-stop-feeding-hong-kongs-housing-crisis-and-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3145495/mtr-corp-should-stop-feeding-hong-kongs-housing-crisis-and-help?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Aug 2021 01:15:16 +0000 In December, China outlined new national security rules on foreign direct investment and agreed on an investment treaty with the European Union. On New Year’s Eve, Hainan announced a list of hitherto closed business sectors that would be opened up to foreign investment. These developments are neither nationalistic nor protectionist, showing that China can ensure national security while maintaining an open economy. After all, its one-party political system is actualised more by a keen sense of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116303/china-need-not-choose-between-open-economy-and-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3116303/china-need-not-choose-between-open-economy-and-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jan 2021 08:15:12 +0000 As I watched the video of the seven Hong Kong police officers beating up a protester at the time the news broke, I must admit that it looked bad. Let’s be clear: the officers are not heroes, as some have suggested. They failed at their jobs, jobs we entrusted them with. Upon learning more about the incident, however, I found myself torn between a reluctance to condone their actions and an unwillingness to fault them. They are only human after all. Hong Kong police chief calls on public to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2072655/stirring-nationalist-fervour-over-jailing-police-officers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2072655/stirring-nationalist-fervour-over-jailing-police-officers?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Feb 2017 09:31:16 +0000 Debate on the trial involving executives from online video-sharing site Qvod, accused of distributing pornography, should focus on three questions: whether pornography should be censored; whether technology needs to be controlled by morality and politics; and how any controls would be implemented. There are people who claim there should be no censorship in modern society; they are making knee-jerk mistakes. In good faith, they cannot really be against all possible censorship, however progressive... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1908862/open-debate-and-trial-chinese-video-sharing-site-qvod?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1908862/open-debate-and-trial-chinese-video-sharing-site-qvod?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Feb 2016 06:31:57 +0000