https://www.scmp.com/rss/328998/feed Nicholas Ross Smith is an adjunct fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com As the world comes to terms with the United States’ imposition of trade tariffs, the anniversary of the Bandung Conference offers a timely reminder of how, at the height of the Cold War, a group of like-minded countries came together to build solidarity and push for a fairer system of international relations. From April 18 to 24, 1955, Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, welcomed 28 leaders from Asian and African countries to Bandung on the island of Java. The conference is today seen as a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3307744/time-china-align-nations-its-1955?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3307744/time-china-align-nations-its-1955?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Apr 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Despite the Donald Trump administration’s unconventional foreign policy in his second term, Sun Yun – the director of the Stimson Centre’s China programme – recently argued that it is unlikely to have any ramifications for the United States’ military presence in the Indo-Pacific. Given that Trump is eager to boost US power projection capabilities with the desired acquisition of Greenland, it is unfathomable that it would seek to change its current position in the Indo-Pacific. However, the Trump... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3303737/how-trump-may-inadvertently-calm-waters-indo-pacific?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3303737/how-trump-may-inadvertently-calm-waters-indo-pacific?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:30:08 +0000 China’s engagement with the Pacific has once again been placed under the microscope after the announcement that it signed a “strategic partnership” with the Cook Islands. This comes after a security agreement China signed with the Solomon Islands in 2022 and a proposed agreement involving 10 Pacific countries that was put on hold after objections from some Pacific states, significant pushback from Australia and tensions with the United States. Unsurprisingly, the news of the deal between China... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3299560/new-zealand-need-not-fear-chinas-growing-ties-pacific-nations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3299560/new-zealand-need-not-fear-chinas-growing-ties-pacific-nations?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Feb 2025 21:30:07 +0000 Fears about World War III emerging have long captivated the dark, conspiracy theorist corners of cyberspace but have rarely entered the realm of official foreign policy communication. However, in recent months there has been an uptick in officials voicing concerns about the potential for World War III. Just last week, New Zealand’s foreign minister Winston Peters said, “We’re going through the pre-second world war experience, utterly unprepared, way out of time – disastrous”. Part of the impetus... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3268807/china-not-going-cause-world-war-iii?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3268807/china-not-going-cause-world-war-iii?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jul 2024 21:30:07 +0000 Much has been made recently of the fact that BRICS –Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – as a bloc now represents a higher gross domestic product (in purchasing power parity terms) than the G7. This is indeed an achievement as the bloc consists entirely of Global South economies and its growth over the past two decades has been impressive. But beyond the kudos each country might receive, the implications for the global balance of power is, at the moment, quite limited. Having a strong... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3223136/brics-bloc-has-come-long-way-it-not-world-power-yet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3223136/brics-bloc-has-come-long-way-it-not-world-power-yet?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jun 2023 19:30:11 +0000 New Zealand’s prime ministerial transition from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins, along with the possibility of a new government later this year, has raised significant debate about whether the nation’s approach to China is about to change. The recent announcement of Hipkins’ travel schedule for the next few months has added fuel to the fire about New Zealand’s relationship with China because Beijing is a notable omission on the itinerary. This is despite Hipkins stating shortly after taking... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3218921/no-reason-think-new-zealand-shifting-its-position-china-and-aukus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3218921/no-reason-think-new-zealand-shifting-its-position-china-and-aukus?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 May 2023 16:30:17 +0000 This is the 50th year of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China. What began as a modest relationship has, particularly in the last decade, become one of New Zealand’s most important, especially as China is by far its largest trading partner. But this anniversary comes as relations are shrouded in uncertainty and questions, particularly with the destabilisation of the Indo-Pacific amid the fracturing Sino-American relationship. Australia, one of New Zealand’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3202745/new-zealand-has-great-relationship-china-how-much-longer-us-pressure-grows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3202745/new-zealand-has-great-relationship-china-how-much-longer-us-pressure-grows?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Dec 2022 17:00:10 +0000 Following Xi Jinping’s anointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012, he highlighted the need to “tell China’s story well” to make the most of its meteoric rise. This meant investing significant time and resources in wielding “cultural soft power” abroad. Yet, a decade on, the response from outsiders is that China’s soft power efforts have been a resounding failure. Global perceptions of China have grown worse in recent years, except in a few countries like Pakistan and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3198008/climate-action-where-china-can-really-tell-its-story-well?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3198008/climate-action-where-china-can-really-tell-its-story-well?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Nov 2022 19:30:09 +0000 In the course I teach on the Cold War, I invariably end proceedings with a debate about who won. Typically, students say it was the US. Once, though, a student from China argued that China actually won the Cold War. Their reasoning went like this. After the Cold War, US hubris led to disaster in Afghanistan and Iraq. China, unlike the Soviet Union, managed to become more capitalist while keeping its society stable. I am not here to debate the merits of that answer. However, the second aspect of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3189999/russias-struggles-ukraine-offer-beijing-useful-lessons-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3189999/russias-struggles-ukraine-offer-beijing-useful-lessons-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Aug 2022 17:30:12 +0000 New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received some scorn recently when she said in a speech to the Lowy Institute that the war in Ukraine should not be characterised as a war of “democracy vs autocracy”. Much of it has centred on the belief that Ardern betrayed the courageous Ukrainians fighting the autocratic Russians for their chance at a democratic future. Democracy is undeniably part of the story of the war in Ukraine. Remember, it was not the threat of Nato expansion that sparked... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3185104/russias-war-ukraine-more-just-battle-good-vs-evil?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3185104/russias-war-ukraine-more-just-battle-good-vs-evil?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jul 2022 01:15:20 +0000 Australia and New Zealand have been swept by consternation after it emerged that China was in discussions towards a potential Pacific-wide pact which could see it cooperate with 10 Pacific island states on issues such as policing, security and data communications. This revelation comes hot on the heels of China agreeing a bilateral security pact with the Solomon Islands. So far, the substance of the pact has taken a back seat to conjecture. The leaked documents are vaguely written, full of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3179809/furore-over-pacific-nations-china-deals-puts-focus-security-instead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3179809/furore-over-pacific-nations-china-deals-puts-focus-security-instead?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jun 2022 17:00:29 +0000 Speaking in Strasbourg recently, French President Emmanuel Macron laid out a new vision of European integration while stressing that it would take “decades” for Ukraine to join the European Union proper. This contrasts starkly with the optimism of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who has repeatedly expressed a desire for Ukraine to become a full member as soon as possible. Macron clearly remains an enlargement sceptic. He vetoed plans in 2019 to open accession talks – the last... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3177332/how-eu-can-reinvigorate-itself-and-go-beyond-being-western?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3177332/how-eu-can-reinvigorate-itself-and-go-beyond-being-western?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 May 2022 17:30:10 +0000 Before Russia declared war on Ukraine, one frequently mentioned solution to the question of Ukraine’s troubled position between West and East was adopting something akin to what Finland adopted during the Cold War. Under the leadership of its prime minister Juho Kusti Paasikivi, Finland signed an agreement with the Soviet Union that, among other things, recognised Finnish neutrality in the context of great-power conflict and that Finland could not adopt foreign policies contrary to the interests... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3169685/finland-model-offers-pragmatic-way-forward-ukraine-and-russia-nato?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3169685/finland-model-offers-pragmatic-way-forward-ukraine-and-russia-nato?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Mar 2022 02:15:16 +0000 Much is being made of the changing international landscape and the instability this is breeding. Indeed, it is concerning that the United States and Russia are clashing over Ukraine and the US and China are clashing over the Indo-Pacific region. Furthermore, the threat of a Sino-Russian united front against the US and its allies has left some people fearing that World War III is starting. However, despite some worrying trends, the US-Russia and US-China relationships are still mediated by the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167227/how-competing-realities-over-ukraine-and-indo-pacific-are-muddying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3167227/how-competing-realities-over-ukraine-and-indo-pacific-are-muddying?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Feb 2022 17:30:19 +0000 The US and Russia have entered 2022 with an apparent desire to find common ground over Ukraine. Not only did US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have a lengthy phone call on December 30, it was also announced that the two sides will hold talks in Geneva on January 10. These are positive signs, given the fear surrounding Russia’s intensions in Ukraine, particularly after it amassed some 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. While this might just be periodic sabre... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3162352/ukraine-russia-crisis-no-longer-us-problem-world-rising-regional?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3162352/ukraine-russia-crisis-no-longer-us-problem-world-rising-regional?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jan 2022 17:30:18 +0000 Recently, the Financial Times ran an article with the headline “The US and China are already at war. But which kind?” The author, Gillian Tett, bases many of her assertions on one of the most popular historical analogies employed by Sino-American doomsayers: Graham Allison’s Thucydides Trap. The Thucydides Trap is a historical analogy used to warn against the potential for imminent conflict between the United States and China. It draws insights from the Peloponnesian war where, it is alleged,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3158816/us-and-china-war-why-thucydides-trap-or-cold-war-analogies-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3158816/us-and-china-war-why-thucydides-trap-or-cold-war-analogies-are?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Dec 2021 19:30:15 +0000 Several leaders met in Belgrade, the capital of what was then Yugoslavia, in 1961 to discuss their ideas for how they, as relatively smaller powers, could best manage the spiralling security situation of the Cold War. Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito was the architect of the meeting. He was joined by four other key figures – Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesian president Sukarno and Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah. The geopolitical... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3155000/could-new-zealand-champion-new-non-aligned-movement-avoid-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3155000/could-new-zealand-champion-new-non-aligned-movement-avoid-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Nov 2021 19:30:09 +0000 Whether the increased efforts by the United States and its allies to contain the China threat in the Indo-Pacific region – most recently with the Aukus security alliance – makes strategic sense has been heavily debated. However, an overlooked aspect of the growing US-China tension in the Indo-Pacific is how history is being used to justify and critique policies. The US Defence Department’s 2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy Report describes China as a revisionist power that “seeks to reorder the region... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3150617/us-china-rivalry-and-danger-using-history-justify?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3150617/us-china-rivalry-and-danger-using-history-justify?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Oct 2021 19:30:21 +0000 The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, almost 20 years after the United States deposed them, appears to symbolise the end of America’s post-Cold War dreams of rebuilding the world in its image. In reality, its international standing had already taken a massive hit amid other missteps of the “war on terror”, the invasion of Iraq, the 2008 global financial crisis, electing Donald Trump and so on. Despite this, US President Joe Biden began his term with the desire to reverse the trends of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148022/us-humiliation-afghanistan-does-not-guarantee-china-superpower?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148022/us-humiliation-afghanistan-does-not-guarantee-china-superpower?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Sep 2021 17:30:25 +0000 As the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan reaches the eleventh hour, the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan seems a mere formality. Given that the Taliban was ostensibly the reason the US undertook the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the rapid return of the group to power in Kabul does not bode well for US-Afghan relations or US interests in the region. China, on the other hand, potentially stands to benefit if the Taliban returns to power. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141104/china-needs-better-friends-taliban-make-most-its-rise-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141104/china-needs-better-friends-taliban-make-most-its-rise-power?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Jul 2021 17:00:24 +0000 China has arguably invested more than any other country in public diplomacy initiatives during the last two decades. There have been glitzy events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which grabbed headlines and showcased China’s development to the world. There has also been heavy investment in education, both externally through Confucius Institutes and internally through efforts to attract international students to China’s higher education sector. Turning China into a popular destination for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3137484/how-chinas-treatment-international-students-hurts-its-public?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3137484/how-chinas-treatment-international-students-hurts-its-public?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:00:00 +0000 Last Sunday, a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius (two EU capitals) was forced to land in Belarus on the pretext that there was a bomb on board. People on the plane were forced to disembark, the most noteworthy being an outspoken critic of the Lukashenko regime, the journalist Roman Protasevich. He is now in detention and faces an uncertain future. Such an act is not unprecedented. The United States and its allies have a history of diverting foreign aircraft if they suspect people of interest... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3134932/how-belarus-brazen-plane-diversion-reflects-eus-struggle-act-global?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3134932/how-belarus-brazen-plane-diversion-reflects-eus-struggle-act-global?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 May 2021 17:30:13 +0000 After spending a summer in the Soviet Union in 1960, American psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner came to believe that the intensifying Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was mostly a product of distorted perceptions. Bronfenbrenner observed five common distortions: (1) they are the aggressors; (2) their government exploits and deludes the people; (3) the masses are not really sympathetic to the regime; (4) they cannot be trusted, and; (5) their policy verges on madness. For... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3130308/us-distorted-view-china-threat-risks-creating-cold-war-nightmare?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3130308/us-distorted-view-china-threat-risks-creating-cold-war-nightmare?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Apr 2021 17:30:12 +0000 British communications regulator Ofcom recently announced that China’s state-owned news service CGTN is banned in the United Kingdom, effective immediately. The decision was justified on the legal basis that “licence holders cannot be controlled by political bodies”, but some see this as a sign that geopolitical tensions are on the rise between China and the West. The argument that China’s rise will unleash a new cold war – one between a US-led bloc of Western countries and a Chinese bloc of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3121764/how-britains-cgtn-ban-shows-western-insecurity-over-chinas-rise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3121764/how-britains-cgtn-ban-shows-western-insecurity-over-chinas-rise?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:45:11 +0000 Australia and New Zealand ended up in a minor diplomatic squabble last week after New Zealand trade minister Damien O’Connor said in an interview that if Australia “were to follow us and show respect” by engaging “a little more diplomacy from time to time and be cautious with wording”, then it could have as positive a relationship with China as New Zealand does. It is no secret that Sino-Australian relations are in a particularly low trough at the moment and O’Connor’s advice was probably... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3120325/hedging-chinas-rise-australia-and-new-zealand-offer-lessons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3120325/hedging-chinas-rise-australia-and-new-zealand-offer-lessons?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Feb 2021 01:15:13 +0000 Many countries – mostly Western – have overwhelmingly “unfavourable views” of China, according to a Pew Research Centre study released this month. Of the 14 countries surveyed, the percentage of respondents who have “no confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs” ranged from 70 per cent in the Netherlands to 84 per cent in Japan. This represents a significant jump from the previous year, where the percentage hovered in the 50-60 range for most... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104870/why-chinas-dreams-global-leadership-are-fading-fast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104870/why-chinas-dreams-global-leadership-are-fading-fast?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Oct 2020 17:30:08 +0000 The year 2020 appears to have started badly and grown progressively worse. There have been record bush fires in Australia, swarms of locusts in Africa and Asia, the threat of war between the United States and Iran and, most recently, the emergence of a coronavirus pandemic. This is not to mention ongoing issues such as the Syrian and Libyan civil wars, the humanitarian crises in South Sudan and Yemen, the slide into authoritarianism in Turkey, Russia and China, and the weakening of democracy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3064837/beginning-end-reject-politics-fear-and-embrace-hope-and-cooperation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3064837/beginning-end-reject-politics-fear-and-embrace-hope-and-cooperation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2020 01:00:06 +0000 A popular joke in Russia goes: “One cannot choose one’s parents, country, or the president.” In his annual state-of-the-nation address earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin seemingly confirmed this when he announced yet another major constitutional reform, which many fear is a thinly veiled attempt to maintain power beyond 2024 when his presidency is scheduled to end. The latest reform aims to first, strengthen the role of parliament and the prime minister, and second, strengthen State... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047236/putins-reforms-may-be-more-about-legacy-building-power-grabbing-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047236/putins-reforms-may-be-more-about-legacy-building-power-grabbing-he?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jan 2020 01:30:07 +0000 This will be remembered by many as the year that China did near-irreparable damage to its international reputation and image. Chinese leaders and policymakers have generally understood that China’s gradual rise to international prominence would bring with it challenges, especially regarding the perceptions of others. To allay the fears of outsiders about its rise, China has, for the past decade or so, attempted a multipronged charm offensive aimed at the rest of the world. Billions were spent on... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/year-chinas-international-reputation-took-battering/article/3043669?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/year-chinas-international-reputation-took-battering/article/3043669?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Dec 2019 10:30:26 +0000 This will be remembered by many as the year that China did near-irreparable damage to its international reputation and image. Chinese leaders and policymakers have generally understood that China’s gradual rise to international prominence would bring with it challenges, especially regarding the perceptions of others. To allay the fears of outsiders about its rise, China has, for the past decade or so, attempted a multipronged charm offensive aimed at the rest of the world. Billions were spent on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043543/china-cannot-just-rely-its-economic-might-silence-growing-army?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043543/china-cannot-just-rely-its-economic-might-silence-growing-army?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Dec 2019 01:30:13 +0000 The past week has seen worrying new levels of violence and destruction in Hong Kong as battles between the police and protesters erupted in numerous locations. Despite Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor backing down from the original extradition bill, protesters have not only continued to demonstrate but seem to be radicalising. The current state of Hong Kong – a city seemingly on the verge of widespread civil collapse – presents a massive challenge for Beijing for a number of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038596/hong-kongs-protests-present-beijing-no-win-situation-will-it-choose?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038596/hong-kongs-protests-present-beijing-no-win-situation-will-it-choose?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Nov 2019 01:00:11 +0000 The ongoing protests in Hong Kong over the extradition bill are undoubtedly the biggest crisis since the introduction of the “one country, two systems” legal framework to manage China-Hong Kong relations after the handover in 1997.  In the three months the protests have been going on, one thing is crystal clear: there is a significant group of organised Hongkongers who are prepared to protest loudly – and even fight – to protect their rights. Less clear is what Beijing will do about the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3021583/if-beijing-considering-deploying-pla-hong-kong-it-should-heed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3021583/if-beijing-considering-deploying-pla-hong-kong-it-should-heed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2019 22:00:08 +0000 After almost two years of investigating, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has concluded that there was no direct collusion between the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign. Of course, there is enough evidence to suggest that Russia was probably involved in some tangible actions – such as the Democratic National Committee email hacks – aimed at influencing the election, but the actual influence of this is far from determined. It is more constructive to move on and debate, more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3003124/why-super-villain-vladimir-putin-and-russia-are-not-cause?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3003124/why-super-villain-vladimir-putin-and-russia-are-not-cause?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2019 15:30:10 +0000 Judging by 2018, China’s goal of global influence and “winning hearts and minds” remains partially elusive. In the West, numerous events have negatively affected perceptions of China’s international role, from the arrest of a Chinese state-media reporter at a forum in Britain, to reports of Xinjiang’s detention camps for Muslim ethnic minorities, to the possibly retaliatory imprisonment of Canadians following the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer. China even had a diplomatic row with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2182196/chinas-soft-power-play-what-will-it-take-get?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2182196/chinas-soft-power-play-what-will-it-take-get?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Jan 2019 19:00:30 +0000 Much has been made of China’s purported housing bubble and the economic ripples it will send through the country and the world if it bursts. Indeed, a number of commentators have been fatalistic about the possibility of deflating this bubble because real estate seems to be the engine of the Chinese economy. Ostensibly, the Chinese economy is increasingly reliant on construction, which has stoked a huge credit boom. It is often said that China avoided a direct hit from the financial crisis of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2169147/how-china-can-tax-its-way-out-housing-bubble?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2169147/how-china-can-tax-its-way-out-housing-bubble?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Oct 2018 23:00:30 +0000