https://www.scmp.com/rss/328453/feed Chauncey Jung is a political analyst with a special focus on international affairs, technology, and China’s growing influence on liberal democracies. He previously worked for several Chinese Internet companies in Beijing. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com With less than 100 days to go to the US presidential election, Donald Trump and his administration are at a critical point in their bid for re-election. It will not be easy. Trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the polls, Trump will need to address many issues in the coming weeks to prevent an embarrassing result in November.  In addition to the struggling economy, deteriorating relations with China and the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, the president also faces... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095575/us-election-tiktok-firing-line-over-trump-campaign-fears-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095575/us-election-tiktok-firing-line-over-trump-campaign-fears-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Aug 2020 16:30:10 +0000 The Chinese government may have banned Twitter within the country, but that hasn’t stopped senior officials, from diplomats to foreign ministry spokespeople, using the social media platform in an effort to increase Beijing’s influence. The posts are clearly not intended for the domestic audience; there have been no changes to the country’s restrictive internet policies. Rather, the presence of Chinese diplomats on Twitter serves one goal: to deliver Beijing’s message to the free world. From Hong... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3051757/china-ventures-outside-great-firewall-only-hit-brick-wall-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3051757/china-ventures-outside-great-firewall-only-hit-brick-wall-online?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Feb 2020 05:30:06 +0000 Social media fans outside China are well aware of the short-video sharing app TikTok. Since its official launch outside the country in 2017, it has accumulated some 1.5 billion users around the world. TikTok users thus outnumber China’s own population. In 2018 alone, TikTok was downloaded more than 1 billion times, more than Instagram. Those results are not necessarily organic: the company spent US$1 billion on an aggressive advertising campaign in the past year. In the third quarter of 2019,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3044460/chinas-internet-giants-expand-their-global-reach-they-bring-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3044460/chinas-internet-giants-expand-their-global-reach-they-bring-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Jan 2020 06:00:14 +0000 If President Xi Jinping’s team carries out annual job appraisals, China’s overseas propaganda team will surely be found to have performed catastrophically.  Whether it is Hong Kong or Xinjiang, Huawei or the trade war with the United States, the Chinese regime has had a string of notable public relations failures this year. While the regime’s propaganda efforts have worked quite well on the domestic audience, mainly because of the Great Firewall, the overseas propaganda arm has suffered major... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/xi-jinpings-china-losing-its-propaganda-war/article/3042223?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/xi-jinpings-china-losing-its-propaganda-war/article/3042223?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Dec 2019 09:41:12 +0000 If President Xi Jinping’s team carries out annual job appraisals, China’s overseas propaganda team will surely be found to have performed catastrophically. Whether it is Hong Kong or Xinjiang, Huawei or the trade war with the United States, the Chinese regime has had a string of notable public relations failures this year. While the regime’s propaganda efforts have worked quite well on the domestic audience, mainly because of the Great Firewall, the overseas propaganda arm has suffered major... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3042030/xi-jinpings-china-losing-its-propaganda-war-left-right-and-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3042030/xi-jinpings-china-losing-its-propaganda-war-left-right-and-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Dec 2019 03:00:11 +0000 In a boxing ring in northwestern China last month, controversial mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong found himself up against a kung fu master who professed the ability to paralyze an opponent with the jab of his finger. This mystical technique is sometimes called the “death touch.” But on May 18, touch was probably the last thing the kung fu master Lu Gang wanted. Xu landed punch after punch to his face. Forty seconds and one broken nose later, the fight was over. Over the past two years,... https://www.scmp.com/society/xu-xiaodong-chinese-mma-fighter-crusade-against-fake-kung-fu-faces-punishment/article/3013388?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/xu-xiaodong-chinese-mma-fighter-crusade-against-fake-kung-fu-faces-punishment/article/3013388?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jun 2019 09:08:24 +0000 You go to work at 9am, and you leave at 9pm. Every day, six days a week. It’s known as “996,” a 72-hour work week that’s become the new normal in the Chinese tech industry. Many of the leading Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba (which owns Inkstone), JD.com, Bytedance and Huawei all have staff running on this schedule, according to a crowdsourced document naming and shaming some 40 tech companies on Github, a popular code-hosting site where two Chinese software developers have started an... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/chauncey-jung-chinas-toxic-work-culture-about-money-and-peer-pressure/article/3004834?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/chauncey-jung-chinas-toxic-work-culture-about-money-and-peer-pressure/article/3004834?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Apr 2019 09:56:11 +0000 If you were surprised that Chinese billionaire Jack Ma is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, the next fact will blow your mind: the party is a fixture in virtually all Chinese businesses. Many people reacted in shock to recent reports that the founder of Chinese tech juggernaut Alibaba (which owns Inkstone) is a member of the Communist Party. These people could not wrap their heads around Ma’s tremendous wealth and his association with a party that was founded to bring down capitalism and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/chauncey-jung-what-communists-do-chinas-tech-companies/article/2176349?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/chauncey-jung-what-communists-do-chinas-tech-companies/article/2176349?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 10:00:45 +0000 The world seems to have taken birthright citizenship in the United States for granted. Ever since the case of United States v Wong Kim Ark in 1898, in which the son of Chinese immigrants successfully challenged his denial of entry following a trip outside the US, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution has been interpreted as granting citizenship by birth to every child born in the US, regardless of race, ethnicity or parents’ nationality. Donald Trump’s recent remarks may be a wake-up call.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2172083/end-birthright-citizenship-us-and-canada-would?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2172083/end-birthright-citizenship-us-and-canada-would?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Nov 2018 19:19:42 +0000 Anyone who follows Chinese state media coverage can see that Chinese propaganda is inconsistent. From the changing strategy on President Xi Jinping’s image to its stance on patriotic films, Chinese propaganda does not follow a consistent guideline. Chinese officials seemingly decide in an arbitrary and random fashion how the nation is presented, both to a domestic audience and to the outside world. The Chinese government’s public communication appears aimed only at meeting short-term goals. But... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2162178/how-beijings-propaganda-dents-chinas-image-rather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2162178/how-beijings-propaganda-dents-chinas-image-rather?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Sep 2018 07:15:15 +0000