https://www.scmp.com/rss/323158/feed Mark Logan  served as a member of parliament from 2019-2024, including as a parliamentary private secretary and vice-chair of the Parliament Group on China. He left the Conservatives and joined the Labour Party in 2024. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Mark Logan Mark Logan Winston Churchill wrote his four-volume masterpiece, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, at the very moment a new era of world history was taking shape: victory over the Nazis, the birth of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions. All signalled continuity of Anglo-Saxon leadership in world affairs, the baton passing fairly peacefully from Britain to America. But 80 years on from the end of the second world war, the world is reconfiguring itself once more. And what it means for... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3341102/anglosphere-fractures-starmers-china-visit-could-be-historic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3341102/anglosphere-fractures-starmers-china-visit-could-be-historic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:30:10 +0000 Mark Logan Mark Logan In a world increasingly defined by digital diplomacy and virtual communication, the persistent struggle over bricks and mortar might seem like an old-fashioned skirmish. However, the ongoing saga of China’s proposed new embassy in London, England, proves that physical buildings remain potent symbols of power, prestige and national ambition. The dispute over the diplomatic compound is more than just a planning row; it is a microcosm of the complex, often fraught relationship between the UK and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3322136/how-beijings-proposed-new-embassy-london-could-benefit-britain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3322136/how-beijings-proposed-new-embassy-london-could-benefit-britain?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Aug 2025 21:30:07 +0000 Last week, Rishi Sunak, leader of Britain’s Conservative opposition, grilled Keir Starmer during a Prime Minister’s Questions session, starting with Taiwan, sweeping through the Jimmy Lai Chee-ying case in Hong Kong and ending his interrogation on issues of Russia-China relations and intelligence. Starmer responded by setting out his government’s China policy framework: “cooperate, challenge, compete”. But a fourth C is needed to predict what a Labour-led Britain may seek out: consistency. The... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3283277/when-it-comes-china-britain-must-play-smart-not-be-emotional?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3283277/when-it-comes-china-britain-must-play-smart-not-be-emotional?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:30:10 +0000 “When we hear statistics that China adds an economy the size of Australia every year, or that real incomes have continued to increase … these are hardly more reliable than any other official statements … moreover, a country that produces what no one wants to buy is hardly in the best of economic health.” Could you imagine new British Prime Minister Liz Truss saying something like this, evoking Margaret Thatcher when taking over the fraught reins of UK-China relations? Thatcher was quoted making... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3191499/liz-truss-thatcher-reawakening-what-uk-china-relations-need?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3191499/liz-truss-thatcher-reawakening-what-uk-china-relations-need?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Sep 2022 01:15:23 +0000 China may not have been at the G7 summit in person, but it was very much there in spirit. We will look back at this long weekend in Cornwall, England as the moment when there was more than just a tacit recognition that China has become our era’s agenda-setting country. In the eyes of many Western policymakers, China was supposed to become more like the West. The United States was to carry on ruling the waves, while simultaneously crafting the international rules. Yet, in many cases it is now... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3137386/g7-summit-shows-china-still-setting-agenda?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3137386/g7-summit-shows-china-still-setting-agenda?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jun 2021 20:30:00 +0000 Not a day goes by without heated debate about race in the media, both sides of it based on an outdated premise: that whites are supreme or possess unchecked privilege. It’s time for the global narrative and local sentiment to recalibrate. Firstly, for believers in white supremacy, the recalibration process needs to recognise that the world has moved on since the days of the “white man’s burden”. Any belief that the “white race” is supreme is wrong, there is evidence of relative strength across... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2108274/white-supremacy-history-and-china-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2108274/white-supremacy-history-and-china-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Aug 2017 04:00:29 +0000 The pollsters predict a landslide victory for the Conservative Party in the British general election on June 8. But what would such a win mean for UK-China relations? The Conservatives have come under attack at home for not bringing immigration numbers down, while simultaneously battling accusations of being anti-immigration in sentiment towards students. Aware of the need to balance domestic and foreign policy, Prime Minister Theresa May should scrap any conflation that suggests studying in the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090748/china-uk-golden-era-may-truly-dawn-if-british-voters-give?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2090748/china-uk-golden-era-may-truly-dawn-if-british-voters-give?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Apr 2017 02:38:39 +0000 Strange old year, this 2016. In Chinese, the words “one” and “six” – yiliu – sounds like the term “first-rate”. The year is hardly associated with first-rate, considering Donald Trump’s elevation to Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Along with the Brexit vote, do these seismic changes mean there has never been a worse time to study at Harvard or Oxbridge? You would think so. Populism, by definition, is a reaction against institutions in society. Populists and their followers see the system as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054243/elite-universities-have-their-place-society-elitist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2054243/elite-universities-have-their-place-society-elitist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Dec 2016 02:51:10 +0000 In a matter of a few weeks, the political momentum of British Prime Minister Theresa May has truly accelerated. Is an infrastructure revolution under way in the UK? First it was the eventual thumbs-up to the Hinkley Point civil nuclear project. Then we saw May deliver a “hard Brexit” message at her first Conservative Party conference as leader. And now another momentous decision has finally happened – the green light to build a third runway at Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow. Long-delayed UK... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2041526/british-nod-heathrow-expansion-vital-countrys-post-brexit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2041526/british-nod-heathrow-expansion-vital-countrys-post-brexit?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Oct 2016 06:03:54 +0000 Theresa May, in her maiden Conservative Party conference speech as UK prime minister, said she wanted to design a country that works for everyone. But will it work for relations with China and Hong Kong? The UK has been a highly sought-after destination for Chinese students. Over 500,000 can boast a degree from Britain. Following the vote to leave the EU, there is an exceptional opportunity for the UK to position itself as a paradise for international students. Will Brexit mean a more or less... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2024967/once-out-eu-britain-must-again-find-its-place-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2024967/once-out-eu-britain-must-again-find-its-place-world?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Oct 2016 08:59:43 +0000 I recall a senior official of an average-sized Chinese city disparagingly noting that mayors in the UK wield little power, and even less of a budget. Despite this, angry netizens increasingly demand more from elected representatives. All this in an “end of power” epoch, when, as commentator Moises Naim claims, “being in charge isn’t what it used to be”. History has tended to focus on leaders. Arguably, leadership is now less about the movers and shakers at the top. Increasingly, it is the middle... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2009276/era-people-power-what-can-gathering-such-g20-do?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2009276/era-people-power-what-can-gathering-such-g20-do?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Aug 2016 03:38:00 +0000 Olympic years are becoming increasingly seminal for UK-China relations: Beijing 2008 saw the global financial crisis swirl overhead; weeks before London 2012, then British prime minister David Cameron met the Dalai Lama; and Rio 2016’s carnival party was presaged by terrorist attacks, fears of a protectionist turn in US policy and uncertainty over the implications of Brexit. Chain reaction: will nuclear plant decision herald tougher times for Sino-British ties? Beijing 2008 showcased China’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2001923/sport-getting-along-china-and-uk-should-go-gold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2001923/sport-getting-along-china-and-uk-should-go-gold?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Aug 2016 02:38:41 +0000