https://www.scmp.com/rss/322944/feed Xu Xiaobing is director of the Centre of International Law Practice at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Law School. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Recent remarks by top US officials have attracted extensive attention. Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the Munich Security Conference that the Biden administration has “made an investment, a reinvestment, in our alliances, in our partnerships, and in the multilateral system”. He added: “We’ve seen our comparative advantage as having a strong network of voluntary alliances, voluntary partnerships. If you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3256132/listen-what-us-officials-are-saying-and-divisive-politics-clear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3256132/listen-what-us-officials-are-saying-and-divisive-politics-clear?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Mar 2024 12:30:22 +0000 The latest G7 leaders’ statement, released on December 6, called again for a “peaceful resolution” of issues across the Taiwan Strait while claiming no change in their “one China policies”. This statement is hypocritical, mendacious and deceptive at best, and dangerous at worst. It is hypocritical to call for a peaceful resolution without giving due respect to China’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal affairs. The sovereignty, territorial integrity and internal affairs of a state... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3246567/g7-wrong-threat-taiwan-peace-not-reunification-secession?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3246567/g7-wrong-threat-taiwan-peace-not-reunification-secession?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Dec 2023 01:30:10 +0000 More than 140 years ago, US president Chester Arthur signed the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act, the only federal law in US history to exclude immigration based on nationality. It took more than 60 years before Congress abolished it and another 70 years before Chinese-Americans received a much-delayed apology from the institution. While that apology is still ringing in our ears, Florida governor and US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis signed into law in May a bill that again targets Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3228593/china-baiting-us-congress-shows-little-has-changed-china-exclusion-act?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3228593/china-baiting-us-congress-shows-little-has-changed-china-exclusion-act?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:00:18 +0000 The start of the Year of the Rabbit will be remembered for a number of things, not least of which are two “wandering” entities. The first is the popular Chinese science fiction movie The Wandering Earth II, released on January 22. Adapted from a novella by Liu Cixin, who is best known for his bestselling novel The Three Body Problem, the film sees China unite with the rest of the world in a race against time to save the Earth. Together, nations build huge engines to propel the planet out of our... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3212284/giant-balloon-us-china-relations-have-strayed-far-course?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3212284/giant-balloon-us-china-relations-have-strayed-far-course?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Mar 2023 19:30:10 +0000 The Year of the Rabbit usually symbolises hope, rebirth and peace. I wish it really meant that for 2023. The recently concluded 2022 was an extraordinarily difficult year for China. Almost everyone here has deeply felt the painful impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their lives and the national economy. Moreover, Communist Party leadership changes added further uncertainty. However, the biggest challenge in the Year of the Tiger was the crisis caused by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3205450/war-over-taiwan-could-be-inevitable-us-china-and-taipei-boost-military-spending?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3205450/war-over-taiwan-could-be-inevitable-us-china-and-taipei-boost-military-spending?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:00:13 +0000 On August 3, G7 foreign ministers and the High Representative of the European Union issued a statement affirming their “shared commitment to maintaining the rules-based international order [emphasis added], peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and beyond”. In China, this grouping has come to be known as the new Eight-Nation Alliance. The old eight – the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Japan and Austria-Hungary – invaded China in 1900 and forced the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3188249/what-g7s-statement-taiwan-reveals-about-rules-based-international?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3188249/what-g7s-statement-taiwan-reveals-about-rules-based-international?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:30:21 +0000 As 2021 draws to a close, Sino-US relations have undergone some scares, rather than outright harm, during the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency despite the tense summit in Alaska and expectations at an all-time low. So far, Biden’s top officials have used the “three Cs” to define relations with China, that is, competition, confrontation and cooperation. This is, by and large, a realistic portrait of the current state of relations. Since the Trump administration began to undermine the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3161272/how-three-cs-competition-confrontation-and-cooperation-are-driving?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3161272/how-three-cs-competition-confrontation-and-cooperation-are-driving?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Dec 2021 17:30:17 +0000 Ever since the Trump administration targeted China as a strategic competitor, and with the Biden administration so far largely following Trump’s established rules against China, Sino-US competition and confrontation have become a feature of the times. For many, this “great power” competition has caused a disturbing sense of déjà vu and feelings of uneasiness: are we already in a Cold War 2.0? An increasing number of visible and invisible walls are being erected, whether they be trade and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3138167/can-china-and-us-pursue-virtuous-competition-rather-vicious-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3138167/can-china-and-us-pursue-virtuous-competition-rather-vicious-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jun 2021 17:30:00 +0000 On March 18, in freezing weather in Anchorage, Alaska, top diplomats from China and the United States met face to face for the first time since the Biden administration took over, albeit while sitting at white-cloth tables quite far from each other amid concerns over Covid-19, and perhaps political toxins. The socially distanced meeting started with an unexpected exchange of tough words, when opening remarks ran over the agreed eight minutes and went on for about 90 minutes in front of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3127140/confident-china-reminds-us-it-force-reckon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3127140/confident-china-reminds-us-it-force-reckon?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Mar 2021 19:30:16 +0000 Time magazine has already named 2020 “the worst year ever”. This might well be a true reflection of the current American mood. In 2020, US President Donald Trump’s administration let Covid-19 run unchecked at home and the US became the leading country in terms of infections and deaths, with more than 17 million cases and 310,000 deaths. In the meantime, the US continued to quit or inflict damage on important international institutions. In a year that is bound to be remembered for the misery and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3114475/china-has-led-world-2020-fight-coronavirus-while-us-has-been?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3114475/china-has-led-world-2020-fight-coronavirus-while-us-has-been?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Dec 2020 19:30:14 +0000 International politics has always been a dominant factor in determining the adoption, application, interpretation, modification or violation of international law. For legal realists, the law is thus viewed as secondary to politics. To the dismay of idealists who value the role of international law and institutions, this assessment may never lose its validity. History has repeatedly encountered dark hours when politics – illegal use of force, abuse of power, unwarranted interference and so on –... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3090963/how-us-under-trump-has-led-charge-weaken-international-rule-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3090963/how-us-under-trump-has-led-charge-weaken-international-rule-law?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jun 2020 19:00:13 +0000 Chindia, a portmanteau word coined by India, refers to China and ­India together. In reality, however, making the two giant neighbours more intimate is easier said than done. For our generation, the Sino-India relationship, hindered by their craggy and combative frontier, has been an overall competitive, somewhat complementary and ­cooperative, but usually confrontational, and occasionally cinematic, coexistence. To begin with, there is a long history of communication between the two countries.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110793/lesson-doklam-china-and-india-can-still-become-chindia-only?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2110793/lesson-doklam-china-and-india-can-still-become-chindia-only?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Sep 2017 09:33:53 +0000 The arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China in 2013 has been a high-profile one right from the beginning. It now has a chance to become a highly provocative one. While the world anxiously awaits the tribunal’s final decision in The Hague, the case may not develop as either side thinks it will. China must ready for military conflict in South China Sea, says state-run tabloid For China, it is like a ticking time bomb. Beijing has harshly criticised the case as a “political... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1985700/un-ruling-against-china-wont-help-resolve-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1985700/un-ruling-against-china-wont-help-resolve-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jul 2016 09:37:27 +0000