https://www.scmp.com/rss/323507/feed Nicolas Groffman, who practised law in Beijing, Shanghai and London, is a director of Harligan, a consultancy. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Elon Musk has been sharing his views on Muslims in the UK and immigration in general, offering an opportunity to examine the integration of minority groups in Britain. When I moved to England in 2015, I enrolled my children in a Church of England school. I thought it would be easier for them, as non-white children, to integrate by being as mainstream as possible. For some new arrivals to Britain, joining the mainstream can mean going to pubs, for others it means football and for us, it meant... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3294825/elon-musk-should-know-britain-has-always-been-nation-immigrants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3294825/elon-musk-should-know-britain-has-always-been-nation-immigrants?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jan 2025 21:30:07 +0000 The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the European Union recently stressed the importance of “rapid and collective implementation” of the Group of Seven’s US$50 billion loan to Ukraine and said they supported Kyiv on its “irreversible path” to Nato membership. Without aid from countries in the transatlantic security alliance, Ukraine might have already been defeated. However, countries could be doing better – not in terms of the amounts they... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3291207/how-bureaucracy-sabotaging-uks-efforts-aid-ukraine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3291207/how-bureaucracy-sabotaging-uks-efforts-aid-ukraine?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:30:09 +0000 As we move deeper into July, the effects of the national security law are already making themselves felt – not only within Hong Kong, but far beyond its borders, thousands of miles away in the territory’s former colonial ruler. Britain, which opposes the law, worries that the enactment of the law establishes a precedent for China to thwart British interests anywhere in the world. This is because, despite China’s furious assertions to the contrary, Britain sees its national interest as being... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3092062/national-security-law-uk-needs-new-law-too-or-more-firms-hsbc?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3092062/national-security-law-uk-needs-new-law-too-or-more-firms-hsbc?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:15:04 +0000 A British scientist, concealing his employment by a multinational trader, gained access to a processing plant in Fujian and obtained critical trade secrets. These profited his company and ultimately stimulated the British economy. The scientist was Robert Fortune, the employer was the East India Company, the year 1848 and the processing plant a Chinese tea factory. Tea manufacturing is convoluted: cultivation, picking, drying, heating, rolling, firing, sorting and packing, with specific methods... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3090178/intellectual-property-theft-what-chinese-and-british-firms-should?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3090178/intellectual-property-theft-what-chinese-and-british-firms-should?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jun 2020 14:00:16 +0000 When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing, she will have been advised by agents of one of the most efficient intelligence services in the world. Most people outside New Zealand are unaware of how professional its security, intelligence and espionage services are, assuming the country has nothing but rugby, sheep and fresh air. New Zealand’s spies have particular relevance to its relationship with China: the country has engaged with China more... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3003921/how-spies-help-new-zealand-stay-friendly-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3003921/how-spies-help-new-zealand-stay-friendly-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Mar 2019 22:00:07 +0000 In March 2006, Huseyin Celil, a Canadian citizen who was visiting Uzbekistan, was arrested by Uzbek police. The Canadian government requested Celil’s release and return to Canada, but the Uzbek government deported him to China. In November 2006, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for terrorism. The case did not attract a great deal of attention outside Canada, perhaps because Celil was born in China, and China claimed, unconvincingly, that he was a Chinese citizen. It served as an... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3002355/if-chinas-extradition-powers-are-expand-they-must-be-based-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3002355/if-chinas-extradition-powers-are-expand-they-must-be-based-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Mar 2019 14:00:13 +0000 I’m working on a transaction in a WeChat group called “Project Titanium”. One of the group members is a WeChat newbie: an Old Etonian corporate partner in my firm. WeChat has an English version, so he can use it perfectly well. What he finds disconcerting are the images of the participants: a grinning cartoon girl; a happy giraffe; a tank in the desert; a manga boy flicking a V; Geronimo; a plate of stuffed dumplings; Rembrandt with a mooncake … but the people behind these images are all... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2172816/manga-mooncakes-and-monkeys-curious-world-chinas-wechat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2172816/manga-mooncakes-and-monkeys-curious-world-chinas-wechat?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Nov 2018 10:32:00 +0000 In 2004 my friend Tom and I were strolling along the Great Wall when we came upon a cluster of other non-Chinese people: white, black and brown; smiley; in colourful T-shirts: must be Americans. We watched them to see if they did anything funny. We were not disappointed. One was an old white guy (OWG) with a beard and cowboy hat. He was sitting on a step. A few steps below him sat two youths, listening to him. “There is a building in Shenzhen,” he said, “said to be one of the tallest in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2171548/why-china-no-longer-relies-wisdom-old-white-guys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2171548/why-china-no-longer-relies-wisdom-old-white-guys?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Nov 2018 00:00:45 +0000 In the summer of 1986, my friend Charles and I saw a trailer for the most amazing film conceivable, with F-14s landing on carriers. They crashed down amid the steam in super-modern all-grey livery. The film came out a few months later and only those with large reserves of intellectual snobbery failed to enjoy it. It was Top Gun. In mainland China and Hong Kong, the movie was called “Zhuang Zhi Ling Yun”, a good metaphorical name implying reaching for the clouds. It is a perennial favourite in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2170552/top-gun-was-twice-remade-chinese-why-didnt-anybody-notice-clue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2170552/top-gun-was-twice-remade-chinese-why-didnt-anybody-notice-clue?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00:15 +0000 The Chinese are greatly under-represented in British politics. According to the last census, there are 433,150 ethnic Chinese in Britain, 0.7 per cent of the population, around 40 per cent of whom were born in mainland China. If they were proportionately represented in parliament, one would expect four or five MPs of Chinese ethnicity. But at present there is only one, Alan Mak, the Tory MP for Havant, and one Chinese member of the House of Lords, Nat Wei. If we take representation in the House... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2169540/why-arent-there-more-chinese-british-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2169540/why-arent-there-more-chinese-british-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Oct 2018 23:00:30 +0000 We are familiar with the Fan Bingbing story by now. The actress was hidden from public view for 100 days until she confessed to tax evasion. There was no trial. After her “confession”, she was given a stupendous fine of 884 million yuan (US$127.8 million). She has been listed among the world’s top 10 highest paid actresses, along with Jennifer Lawrence and Deepika Padukone; but she will find her earning potential drastically reduced, because Chinese studios and international advertisers will... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2168390/fan-bingbing-should-thank-her-lucky-stars-her-punishment-could?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2168390/fan-bingbing-should-thank-her-lucky-stars-her-punishment-could?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Oct 2018 00:30:15 +0000 We now know who will be making the judgments for some of the largest and most geopolitically significant disputes on the planet. According to the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, disputes regarding the “Belt and Road Initiative”– President Xi Jinping’s plan to fund infrastructure links throughout Eurasia – will be handled by two China International Commercial Courts (CICC). Previously known as the Belt and Road Courts, one of these is based in the southern city of Shenzhen and will handle... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2165567/meet-8-chinese-judges-wholl-sit-belt-and-road-cases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2165567/meet-8-chinese-judges-wholl-sit-belt-and-road-cases?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Sep 2018 01:00:00 +0000 Love on a Diet was a 2001 Hong Kong romantic comedy starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng in fat-suits. Lau’s character helps Cheng’s character lose weight so she can win back her handsome Japanese boyfriend; Lau himself then slims down and the two find love together. There was no suggestion that fat people should be loved for who they are rather than their physical appearance, or that body-shaming men should be shown the error of their ways. The moral of the story was if fat people slim down, they... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2165067/china-has-big-fat-problem-us-style-body-positivity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2165067/china-has-big-fat-problem-us-style-body-positivity?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Sep 2018 04:00:00 +0000 Theresa May has large, tired eyes, is covered in TV make-up, and is dressed in a spotless, perfectly pressed navy suit. She is in no mood for a chat. If you believe some sections of the media, the UK is a small, obsolete and directionless nation that has self-harmed its way onto the fringes of Europe. It has a prime minister who cannot lead her own country, let alone get herself heard in the world. China would rather listen to the German-led European Union or defend itself against the United... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2154156/china-knows-what-britain-doesnt-theresa-may-no-spent-force?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2154156/china-knows-what-britain-doesnt-theresa-may-no-spent-force?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Jul 2018 04:00:45 +0000 The oriental sun is rising, gradually illuminating the reeds, the wilderness, the valleys and waters of the wetlands, which turn from grey to light brown and green to all the bright colours of their nature. The scene is accompanied by the melodies of the wild and the calls of a flock of red-crowned cranes, waking their young. This is Yancheng, in Jiangsu, China. Its long silty coastline, the rich and diverse beach wetland ecosystem and a vast expanse of reed marshes are perfect for the cranes,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2153145/cranes-inspired-bruce-lees-kung-fu-can-they-stretch-chinas-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2153145/cranes-inspired-bruce-lees-kung-fu-can-they-stretch-chinas-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Jul 2018 04:01:53 +0000 The Windrush scandal of last month, under which British citizens of Caribbean origin were threatened with deportation on the grounds that they could not locate documents proving their right to live in Britain, has resulted in the resignation of Home Secretary Amber Rudd and horrified ordinary people in the UK. Chinese people in Britain, however, are not surprised. In February, officials from Chinese government ministries complained about the review system Britain is proposing for foreign... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2144763/chinese-immigrants-uk-brexit-faint-beacon-hope?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2144763/chinese-immigrants-uk-brexit-faint-beacon-hope?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 May 2018 06:01:45 +0000 The traditional view of Chinese civil and commercial courts is that they are beholden to vested interests and often hand out unfair judgments. This view is quite right, but only for local-level courts. The higher the level of court, the more difficult it is for a local state enterprise to exert pressure on its operations. As a basic rule of thumb, the entity exerting the pressure needs to be one rung above the institution it wants to influence. Why English law could rule on China’s belt and road... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2143837/how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-chinese-courts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2143837/how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-chinese-courts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Apr 2018 00:30:37 +0000 At my company’s conference in Britain last week, the boss asked a new partner to introduce himself. He stood up and said, “I’m Bill Perkins and I’ll be handling the real estate practice in the Midlands. I’m ably assisted by Charlotte Gregory – stand up Charlotte – who works hand in hand with me – not literally, of course! The way we work together is like this: I go out, hunt out new work, kill it, and bring it back. Charlotte cuts it up and cooks it.” Three sexist remarks in 60 seconds. How a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2141660/metoo-wont-solve-sexism-china-just-ask-germaine-greer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2141660/metoo-wont-solve-sexism-china-just-ask-germaine-greer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Apr 2018 04:30:52 +0000 Matthew Rous, the chief executive of the China Britain Business Council, has spotted something about the geography of China’s Belt and Road Initiative that many have missed. “Look at the map: the Silk Road Economic Belt across Eurasia and the Maritime Silk Road actually come together again at the United Kingdom,” he says. This is perhaps appropriate, since English law is marketing itself as the go-to authority in any contract disputes that crop up between China and its belt and road partners,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2135329/why-english-law-could-rule-chinas-belt-and-road-disputes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2135329/why-english-law-could-rule-chinas-belt-and-road-disputes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Mar 2018 00:00:27 +0000 China’s Arctic ambitions are now at a tipping point, enmeshed with the politics of the Baltics and the wider tussle between Russia and Nato. In January, China issued an Arctic policy white paper that proposes a Polar Silk Road, but key to the plan is more Russian support. In return, Russia expects to secure tacit consent from China if it moves against one or more of the three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. All three are defended by Nato, with British, Canadian and other troops on... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2133039/why-china-russia-relations-are-warming-arctic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2133039/why-china-russia-relations-are-warming-arctic?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Feb 2018 00:00:45 +0000 Whatever the truth surrounding the case of Jerry Chun Shing Lee, the ex-CIA officer arrested by US authorities last week and accused of having spied for China, we can be sure of one thing: he was quite unlike the agents typically used by the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MMS). If the allegations against him are true, then Lee was unusual in that he was actually useful to his handlers – unlike the vast majority of the MSS’s foreign agents. Lee was stopped after flying into John F. Kennedy... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2131816/forget-ex-cia-agent-jerry-chun-shing-lee-fears-over-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2131816/forget-ex-cia-agent-jerry-chun-shing-lee-fears-over-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Feb 2018 03:00:57 +0000 About two days after the UK’s referendum in 2016, I was WeChatted by a certain senior figure in the Shanghai Bureau of Commerce. I am not grand enough to be routinely consulted by Shanghai government officials and he was presumably asking the same question of other Britons in the commercial world. What interested me was his question: was the UK open to discussing a free-trade agreement with China? Why would the Chinese government not go through usual diplomatic channels? Why ask people like me?... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2128057/chris-patten-wrong-hong-kong-will-benefit-brexit-massively?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2128057/chris-patten-wrong-hong-kong-will-benefit-brexit-massively?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jan 2018 01:02:20 +0000 Last month, a fresh diplomatic row broke out between two Himalayan neighbours as Chinese state-run media reported that an Indian drone crashed in Chinese territory. The crash site appeared to have been in or around Doklam, where soldiers from the two sides were locked in a months-long face-off in the summer. It might seem like a one-off, but the crash points to an increase in the use of drones for both military and commercial purposes in recent years. Next year, however, looks set to be a period... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2126211/hollywood-airbases-and-backyards-why-2018-will-be-year-drone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2126211/hollywood-airbases-and-backyards-why-2018-will-be-year-drone?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Dec 2017 02:49:23 +0000 Everyone is a little bit racist. After all it’s nice to feel superior to others at the end of a hard day at work – office politics; the irritation of the commute … you can let out all your frustrations by grumbling to a sympathetic friend about an entire ethnic group. Who hasn’t done that? I have. I mean, honestly, who doesn’t make a bit of a generalisation every so often about people just on the basis of their race? Who can honestly say they haven’t maybe kicked and punched a few foreigners or... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2123540/why-do-whingeing-white-expats-think-anti-chinese-racism-ok?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2123540/why-do-whingeing-white-expats-think-anti-chinese-racism-ok?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2017 05:00:44 +0000 China’s controls on data flows in and out of the country are likely to become even stricter, as shown by draft measures issued last month. Companies in China are already required to store data on local servers, but the new rules appear to require any company doing business with a Chinese entity, even those based overseas, to leave China-related data in China. Like Wolf Warrior 2, China is reaching out beyond its borders – and this matters to any company dealing with China, because infringing the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117346/foreign-firms-watch-out-beijing-may-require-you-leave-china-data?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117346/foreign-firms-watch-out-beijing-may-require-you-leave-china-data?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 03:33:49 +0000 With its uncompromising image, the People’s Liberation Army of China may seem an unlikely employer of choice for the country’s gay community. But it could be argued that the Chinese army is a less uncomfortable environment for gay people than Chinese society at large. That might sound surprising, since the country as a whole is not noted for its tolerance towards the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community. Chinese police detain gay people who gather in public places and the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2094429/army-life-more-gay-friendly-china-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2094429/army-life-more-gay-friendly-china-west?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 May 2017 12:00:45 +0000 The recent detention of 18 Crown Casino employees in China brings into focus the haplessness of multinational corporations when faced with criminal law. Most international lawyers in China are commercial specialists; they are comfortable arguing the toss over new rules on performance bonds, but don’t know the basics of criminal procedure. Yet China is a jurisdiction where criminal sanctions and commercial behaviour overlap. This isn’t news. For at least a decade, foreign executives have been... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2042720/what-do-when-your-staff-get-arrested-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2042720/what-do-when-your-staff-get-arrested-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Nov 2016 07:16:16 +0000 Strange as it may sound, China and India need a basis in espionage to improve their relationship. The two countries are ignorant of each other’s strategies, with suspicion taking the place of intelligence just when understanding is critical. Both nuclear powers, they have the world’s largest border dispute on their hands, at over 100,000 square kilometres. They tussle over sea routes in the Indian Ocean, spheres of influence in neighbouring countries and relations with Pakistan. They need to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2039640/guess-what-india-and-china-need-improve-relations-more-spies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2039640/guess-what-india-and-china-need-improve-relations-more-spies?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Oct 2016 13:45:30 +0000