https://www.scmp.com/rss/6719/feed Robert Keatley, a three-time resident of Hong Kong, is a former editor of the SCMP. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Three years ago, when visiting Washington as she neared completion of her term as Hong Kong’s second-ranking official, career civil servant Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she planned to leave government and do something different at year end – “perhaps social work”. Would that she had. Instead, she became Hong Kong’s fourth consecutive chief executive to become wildly unpopular since China regained sovereignty in 1997, yet another Beijing-backed leader required (or quite willing) to enforce... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3083158/beijing-moving-steadily-bring-hong-kong-closer-fold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3083158/beijing-moving-steadily-bring-hong-kong-closer-fold?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2020 01:00:14 +0000 Chinese policymaking no longer seems deeply troubled by hidden rivalries between 'two centres'. President Hu Jintao has clearly ascended and former president Jiang Zemin is slipping ever further into the background. This does not mean that divisions at the top have disappeared; China's self-selected leaders always differ over resolving the day's most pressing problems. But there seems to be no dispute about accelerating one key programme that Mr Hu has inherited: that of turning the... https://www.scmp.com/article/481493/whos-command-and-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/481493/whos-command-and-control?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Dec 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Those who found American foreign policy too aggressive and unilateral over the past four years had better get used to it. President George W. Bush's second term promises to bring more of the same - although slightly less of it. The imminent departure of Secretary of State Colin Powell removes the administration's chief advocate of caution, moderation and traditional diplomacy. His replacement by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice - Mr Bush's most trusted aide - will strengthen a... https://www.scmp.com/article/478731/same-same-different?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/478731/same-same-different?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Nov 2004 16:00:00 +0000 It is election season again in the United States and, thus, a bit of China-bashing is in vogue. But this year, it is more muted than usual, probably will have little effect on Sino-US relations in the long run, and ignores the most important issue concerning America's future in East Asia. The question of how to deal with China has been a recurring political topic ever since the 'Who lost China?' debate of the 1950s, after the communists defeated the American-backed nationalists. It was... https://www.scmp.com/article/473698/east-asian-issue-does-not-exist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/473698/east-asian-issue-does-not-exist?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:00:00 +0000 When World Trade Organisation ministers gather in Hong Kong late next year to negotiate new global trading rules, among those pushing hardest to liberalise farm trade will be the bureaucrats from Beijing. That is because China, for reasons of both necessity and perceived advantage, has junked many protectionist ideas dating from the days of Mao Zedong and now wants the world's richest nations to do the same. These powers - notably the United States, Japan and the European Union - spend about... https://www.scmp.com/article/466852/new-food-strategy-13-billion-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/466852/new-food-strategy-13-billion-people?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:00:00 +0000 Iraq was America's first pre-emptive war under the Bush national security doctrine. It is also likely to be the last for a very long time - no matter who wins November's US presidential election. The high cost and great controversy have so discredited the assertive policies of President George W. Bush that a diplomatic retreat to the centre seems inevitable. Already gone are the days when Mr Bush could win great applause - as he did only two years ago - by asserting that in foreign policy 'the... https://www.scmp.com/article/462940/back-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/462940/back-future?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jul 2004 16:00:00 +0000 One long-time theme of American foreign policy is the belief that free markets and free politics not only are good for everyone, but they go together - promoting one helps bring about the other. In particular, the theory holds, as formerly communist and other dictatorial states let economic controls lapse, entrepreneurs will help create a middle class that will demand social and political freedoms to match their new business freedoms. As proof, Washington officials often cite developments in... https://www.scmp.com/article/460409/long-road-full-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/460409/long-road-full-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jun 2004 16:00:00 +0000 If events along the Taiwan Strait seem too peaceful to be interesting these days, just wait a while: things will almost certainly get more exciting before long, perhaps uncomfortably so. To be sure, increased tension is not the goal of any of the main players - Taiwan, Beijing and the United States. All three officially endorse an ambiguous 'status quo' as their key objective, at least for the short term. By this, Beijing continues to claim Taiwan as a long-lost province, while Taipei keeps... https://www.scmp.com/article/452586/false-calm-across-taiwan-strait?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/452586/false-calm-across-taiwan-strait?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Apr 2004 16:00:00 +0000 If North Korean officials can be believed, they already belong to the highly exclusive nuclear weapons club. And unless a startling breakthrough occurs, they may still be members even if six-nation talks curtail the future growth of their most dangerous arms programmes. North Korea's neighbours may have to accept the fact that Pyongyang owns a few atomic warheads and will not give them up, no matter what else is decided. That is hardly the stated goal of negotiations chaired by China - with... https://www.scmp.com/article/443131/time-look-other-way?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/443131/time-look-other-way?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000 How times have changed. When the Chinese premier met the American president in Washington, it was Wen Jiabao - from a nominally communist one-party regime that suppresses internal criticism - who called for more global co-operation to solve shared problems on a pragmatic basis. These days, it is George W. Bush - leader of the nation that stands foursquare for democracy and individual freedoms - who so often leans towards harsher, unilateral and more ideological means. Their working styles and... https://www.scmp.com/article/437700/beautiful-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/437700/beautiful-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:00:00 +0000 To hear diplomats in Washington tell it these days, relations between the United States and China seem about as good as they can get. James Kelly, the US State Department's senior Asia hand, said they were 'on some fronts, the best [they] have been in years ... marked by complementary - and sometimes common - policies on a broad range of issues'. His boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, has called them the best since Richard Nixon's Beijing visit opened the China door back in 1972. In fact,... https://www.scmp.com/article/432586/turn-worse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/432586/turn-worse?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:00:00 +0000 NOT SO LONG AGO, the South Korean economy was loping along happily with the other Asian tigers, heading swiftly and surely for ever-better times. But then something went wrong. Now it moves slowly and a bit erratically, not entirely sure where it is going next. This makes South Korea a nation with a remarkable economic past but a somewhat uncertain future. A few decades ago it ranked with some sub-Sahara African nations in the development league; since then it has become one of the few Asian... https://www.scmp.com/article/359277/seoul-must-address-specific-weaknesses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/359277/seoul-must-address-specific-weaknesses?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Oct 2001 16:00:00 +0000 LIKE REAL-ESTATE developers who worry most of all about location, the leaders of North Korea have three clear priorities in mind as they turn to the outside world - survival, survival and survival. South Korean and foreign analysts who might differ on the finer points of dealing with Pyongyang generally agree on this much: the battered regime of 'Dear Leader' Kim Jong-il is motivated above all by the desire to outlast its many problems and keep its grip on power. Thus, it is opening to others,... https://www.scmp.com/article/359152/time-replace-pyongyangs-symbols-substance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/359152/time-replace-pyongyangs-symbols-substance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Oct 2001 16:00:00 +0000 TO MUCH OF the world, Kim Dae-jung is something of a hero. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, survivor of assassination attempts by the country's former military dictators and a renowned champion of democracy, the elderly president of South Korea has earned widespread praise, in particular, for his political wooing of militant North Korea - the 'sunshine policy' which has sharply reduced tensions throughout Northeast Asia. So foreigners find it somewhat puzzling that Mr Kim is much less honoured... https://www.scmp.com/article/359093/sunshine-fades-seouls-under-fire-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/359093/sunshine-fades-seouls-under-fire-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Oct 2001 16:00:00 +0000 AMERICA'S NEW war on terrorism will bring important changes to the way the country conducts its foreign policy, short term and long term. Its approach will become both more collegial, with greater emphasis on global alliances whenever possible, and more assertive - going it alone, including with force, if joint action seems unlikely or ineffective. This will require major changes in military operations and intelligence gathering, with tactics revised to meet the transnational security threats... https://www.scmp.com/article/357687/war-terrorism-will-alter-strategies-and-use-force?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/357687/war-terrorism-will-alter-strategies-and-use-force?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Sep 2001 16:00:00 +0000 AS AN AMERICAN soon to leave Hong Kong for the third time and return to my Washington DC home, the appalling terrorist attacks guarantee the United States I find will be different in at least one substantial way from the country I left three years ago - it will be a nation at war. Not total war in the World War II sense, but one engaged in an expanding global battle against any groups which seek to organise such unprecedented carnage and against any governments anywhere which assist them. US... https://www.scmp.com/article/357495/home-brave-will-pull-through?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/357495/home-brave-will-pull-through?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Sep 2001 16:00:00 +0000 ALL YEAR LONG, the boss of Taiwan's most successful hi-tech company - Morris Chang, the chairman of Taiwan Semiconducter Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) - made clear he was no mindless follower of foolish fashion. Other Taiwanese companies might flock to the mainland with their investment dollars, but not TSMC. Even if Taipei reversed policy and encouraged such spending, he insisted, his company would wait at least three to five years before joining the throng. Then, two weeks ago, a prestigious... https://www.scmp.com/article/357031/taipei-moguls-eye-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/357031/taipei-moguls-eye-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Sep 2001 16:00:00 +0000 IT MAY BE just another triumph of the curator's art but it also may be, in part at least, a kind of political statement. In any case, one current exhibit at Taiwan's splendid National Palace Museum is devoted to 'Active Figures in the History of Taiwan During the Chi'ing Dynasty'. Not the most gripping topic, and the average visitor is more likely to linger before Ming blue and white than accounts of obscure provincial officials from long ago. But purposefully or not, the exhibit illustrates a... https://www.scmp.com/article/356611/reviving-spirit-92?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/356611/reviving-spirit-92?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Sep 2001 16:00:00 +0000 NOT SO LONG AGO, it seemed as if Taiwan had no serious politics. Elections of sorts came and went, but the Kuomintang party (KMT) always ruled - partly by handing out lavish favours both over and under the table. Nowadays, Taiwan appears to have almost too much politics. New parties spring up, old ones divide and candidates who fail to get nominated for public office by their own parties decide to run anyway as independents. The atmosphere is one of endless division and constant conniving, with... https://www.scmp.com/article/356520/politics-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/356520/politics-change?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Aug 2001 16:00:00 +0000 WHEN VLADIMIR PUTIN and President Jiang Zemin signed their 'friendship and co-operation' treaty this week in the Kremlin's gilded Marble Hall, the Russian President might have been motivated in part by a quite different emotion: fear of Chinese invasion. Not fear that the People's Liberation Army will someday storm across the frontier to reclaim land many Chinese still believe is rightfully theirs, despite all those 'unequal treaties' signed long ago with the tsars. That prospect is highly... https://www.scmp.com/article/352952/putin-fears-southern-discomfort?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/352952/putin-fears-southern-discomfort?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Jul 2001 16:00:00 +0000 By selecting Beijing as the site for the 2008 Olympic Games, the governing committee has done the right thing. This gives Chinese leaders an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate they belong among the front ranks in global affairs, a chance that should - if authorities handle it properly - promote better understanding of China in the years just ahead. The final choice was uncertain until late in the game, despite all the talk of China being the odds-on favourite. The Government's repressive... https://www.scmp.com/article/352388/unique-opportunity-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/352388/unique-opportunity-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jul 2001 16:00:00 +0000 BO XILAI is very much a hands-on sort of guy. The governor of Liaoning Province puts a hand on your shoulder to direct you to a seat so a meeting can begin. He pokes you in the chest to make a point when speaking at close range. And he grasps your elbow firmly to steer you out of the door when the talking is over. It is more the style of a savvy United States politician working the precincts than that of a Chinese cadre in charge of economic reform. But if Mr Bo is to help modernise the... https://www.scmp.com/article/348965/princeling-undaunted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/348965/princeling-undaunted?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jun 2001 16:00:00 +0000 Foreign businessmen do not have much problem with the fact the new prime minister of Thailand is a populist. But they do worry that he also may be a protectionist. Not so, says Thaksin Shinawatra, the computer and mobile-phone multi-millionaire whose Thai Rak Thai Party won a landslide election victory three months ago. Even though his government favours import-substitution policies, this does not mean there will be less room for foreign companies, Mr Thaksin insisted in an interview last... https://www.scmp.com/article/346943/welcome-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/346943/welcome-thailand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 May 2001 16:00:00 +0000 WANG ZHIZHI, THE newest Dallas Maverick, is more than the first Chinese player to join America's premier professional basketball circuit. Whether he likes it or not, the towering Wang is also a potential goodwill ambassador who, with luck and talent, may help hold together a frayed relationship that got its public start three decades ago through sport. Thirty years ago today, an American table tennis team crossed the border at Lowu en route to no one knew quite what in Beijing - other than the... https://www.scmp.com/article/343746/greater-game-behind-ping-pong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/343746/greater-game-behind-ping-pong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Apr 2001 16:00:00 +0000 China is certain to join the World Trade Organisation but, despite 14 years of diplomatic talks, the precise entry date remains as elusive as ever, according to Long Yongtu, its chief representative for trade negotiations. Most issues were settled months ago, but long-running disputes about farm subsidies and other items have delayed agreement on final entry terms. Yet, because so much has been done, 'accession is irreversible', Mr Long said in an interview in his Beijing office. 'If a long... https://www.scmp.com/article/340389/long-march-nears-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/340389/long-march-nears-end?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Feb 2001 16:00:00 +0000 This year it took 900 Swiss policemen and countless rolls of barbed wire to keep protesters at bay. But once again, about 2,500 business, government and academic leaders gathered in this Alpine resort for the annual World Economic Forum, an officially non-profit organisation which gently strokes their egos and taps their wallets while making them feel quite pleased about letting it happen. The attendees' declared mission: to ponder the global fate and find ways of making it better. The real... https://www.scmp.com/article/337699/recession-talk-dies-down?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/337699/recession-talk-dies-down?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jan 2001 16:00:00 +0000 Today's Sunday Morning Post brings you a new look and some new features. In an effort to make the paper more readable and more relevant to your interests, we have redesigned its appearance and introduced additional news and features pages. These changes are meant to make the paper both more substantive and more entertaining, and they reflect exactly what you told us a few months ago in a readership survey. For example, we are adding more special articles about Hong Kong issues on a regular... https://www.scmp.com/article/333707/new-look-answers-your-call?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/333707/new-look-answers-your-call?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Dec 2000 16:00:00 +0000 Guangdong governor Lu Ruihua has identified development of the province's poor hinterland as his most pressing priority as he seeks to build on Guangdong's two decades of rapid economic growth. China's richest province had grown at an average 13.8 per cent a year since 1978 but the statistics mask a stark development gap between the Pearl River Delta and the poorer northern regions. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr Lu said: 'I envision that in 20 years the level of... https://www.scmp.com/article/330731/growth-focus-guangdong-hinterland-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/330731/growth-focus-guangdong-hinterland-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2000 16:00:00 +0000 If Guangdong were a country, governor Lu Ruihua would preside over one of the region's most populous nations. Excluding Japan, Guangdong would also rank as the Asia-Pacific region's second-largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) and its seventh-largest exporter. Nor do the flattering comparisons stop there. 'The total gross domestic product of Guangdong province is on a par with Israel's, higher than Egypt's, and about one-third of India's,' Mr Lu said. 'Guangdong's exports and... https://www.scmp.com/article/330711/delta-uneven-spoils?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/330711/delta-uneven-spoils?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2000 16:00:00 +0000 In yesterday's inquiry into the polling issue, the South China Morning Post was accused of distorting the views of pollster Robert Chung Ting-yiu, the central figure of an inquiry into whether the Government tried to halt his public opinion polls because it didn't like their findings. This newspaper would like to make clear that it reported Dr Chung's views accurately. It made no meaningful changes to his words, as shown by the extracts published on this page. In the column he wrote for us,... https://www.scmp.com/article/323379/our-reporting-was-accurate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/323379/our-reporting-was-accurate?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Aug 2000 16:00:00 +0000 AS ANY READER of Patrick O'Connor's seafaring novels will know, naval commanders can be masterful at tactics and resolute in battle. But put them ashore to deal with civilian politics and long-term strategy, and they are hopelessly out of their intellectual depth. That, however, is fiction. Real life these days is quite another matter if Admiral Dennis Blair, commander of all United States military forces in the Pacific region, is at all typical of the modern breed. He is a former Rhodes... https://www.scmp.com/article/322085/navigating-course-peace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/322085/navigating-course-peace?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Jul 2000 16:00:00 +0000 We were wrong. While the South China Morning Post's redesign has made it more attractive, readable and informative, some features which had become favourites of many longtime readers were dropped. We heard your complaints loud and clear. So starting today, you will find, once again, Calvin and Hobbes, the Quick Crossword and Target. We hope they bring back a daily smile. Mea culpa. https://www.scmp.com/article/315926/favourites-are-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/315926/favourites-are-back?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 May 2000 16:00:00 +0000 Today the South China Morning Post takes on a new look designed to improve its form and content. Typefaces have been changed and news columns widened, with pages and sections more clearly labelled - all designed to make the paper easier to read and easier to navigate. There also are important changes of substance. Some stories will be expanded to include helpful background information, while others will be cut to essential facts. The editorial and opinion pages move to the front section to... https://www.scmp.com/article/315851/new-look-post-more-accessible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/315851/new-look-post-more-accessible?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2000 16:00:00 +0000 The Chief Executive hopes to convince sceptical American politicians that granting China full access to the US market is vital to continued economic growth in Hong Kong and across Asia during his North American trip next week. Tung Chee-hwa will also remind potential investors that the SAR remains a distinctly separate part of China with its own laws and business practices. Since the handover, many Americans and others have begun perceiving Hong Kong as an inseparable part of China in... https://www.scmp.com/article/312426/tung-push-trade-deal-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/312426/tung-push-trade-deal-us?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Mar 2000 16:00:00 +0000 THE United States still hopes to improve military relations with China this year, despite Beijing's 'counter-productive' rhetoric over Taiwan, Secretary of Defence William Cohen says. This could include co-operating 'on humanitarian-type missions, peacekeeping missions [and] de-mining', plus joint military operations to deal with natural disasters, the visiting Pentagon chief told the Sunday Morning Post. Mr Cohen has been invited to Beijing soon to discuss putting back on track a military... https://www.scmp.com/article/310638/cohen-courts-mainland-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/310638/cohen-courts-mainland-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Mar 2000 16:00:00 +0000 JOHN Major has an annoying problem. He went swimming in the Thames one day and discovered, when he emerged, that Tony Blair was wearing his clothes. In the political sense, at least. The former British prime minister firmly believes his successor is riding high by benefiting from policies and a buoyant economy that Mr Major left behind. 'It was careless of me to have left them on the bank, and they don't fit him very well,' the former Conservative leader says with a smile. 'I don't... https://www.scmp.com/article/309907/john-major-speaks-global-political-and-trade-situation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/309907/john-major-speaks-global-political-and-trade-situation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Mar 2000 16:00:00 +0000 The date was November 13, 1973. After a banquet in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a startling offer to Premier Zhou Enlai: a secret military alliance against the Soviet Union, something that Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev explicitly had warned him against. Washington, Kissinger promised, would supply equipment and other services if a Sino-Soviet war began. But it would provide other help immediately. Included would be a direct intelligence feed... https://www.scmp.com/article/302275/building-wall-intrigue?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/302275/building-wall-intrigue?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Dec 1999 16:00:00 +0000 Bringing Disneyland to Lantau will improve Hong Kong's international image, boost morale and reduce reliance on 'asset inflation' for economic growth, according to Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. 'It is really part and parcel of the overall thing we are trying to do, and now the pieces are coming together,' Mr Tung said in an interview yesterday. Ever since he emerged on to the political scene, Mr Tung has talked about cutting dependence on economic sectors such as property, which rely more... https://www.scmp.com/article/298553/we-have-shift-usual-sources-wealth-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/298553/we-have-shift-usual-sources-wealth-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Nov 1999 16:00:00 +0000 Perhaps it was when dozens of graceful Viennese waltzers - women in golden gowns, men in white tie and tails - were joined by roller-blading rabbits that it became obvious something distinctly odd was taking place in Tiananmen Square. They appeared not long after a high-kicking chorus line in silver space suits ran through snappy routines that would earn praise from the Rockettes of New York's Radio City Music Hall. Earlier in the day, the real rockets had rumbled by - short-range missiles... https://www.scmp.com/article/295681/party-messages-difficult-read?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/295681/party-messages-difficult-read?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Oct 1999 16:00:00 +0000 At age 86, Huang Hua - still active in several Chinese social and political associations - is a short, slightly stout and distinctly alert member of the ranks of the country's former leadership, one who remains well connected and well informed on current affairs. But for most of the history of the People's Republic of China, he was much more than that. Ever since it was founded 50 years ago, until well after his retirement as vice-premier and foreign minister in 1982, Mr Huang generally has... https://www.scmp.com/article/295306/veterans-view-diplomatic-dramas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/295306/veterans-view-diplomatic-dramas?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Sep 1999 16:00:00 +0000 Huang Hua, foreign minister from 1976 to 1982, vice-premier, 1980 to 1982, and vice-chairman of the National People's Congress, 1983 to 1988, joined the Communist Party and the Red Army in 1936. He headed foreign affairs bureaus in Tianjin, Nanjing and Shanghai between 1949 and 1953 before his first diplomatic assignment as a delegate to the Korean War peace negotiations. He was the PRC's first ambassador to the United Nations in 1971. https://www.scmp.com/article/295305/distinguished-progression?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/295305/distinguished-progression?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Sep 1999 16:00:00 +0000 For anyone who cares about Sino-American relations - especially as seen from the United States side - James Mann has written a wonderful book. About Face: A History Of America's Curious Relationship With China, From Nixon To Clinton is also timely, given the recent visit of Premier Zhu Rongji to the US and its mixed results. The work's double-entendre title captures its substance. It is about both the frequent policy reversals ordered by one US administration after another, plus their repeated... https://www.scmp.com/article/279905/scenes-sino-us-courtship?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/279905/scenes-sino-us-courtship?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:00:00 +0000 Harry Harding, dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs and professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, is one of the United States' most respected Sinologists. His books include A Fragile Relationship: The United States And China Since 1972 and China And Northeast Asia: A Political Dimension; he is now editing a book on China's international behaviour. He spoke recently to the South China Morning Post's senior associate editor ROBERT... https://www.scmp.com/article/277324/delicate-dance-strategic-ambiguity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/277324/delicate-dance-strategic-ambiguity?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Mar 1999 16:00:00 +0000 For a long list of reasons - from Tibet to Taiwan to trade - this promises to be a testy year for Sino-US relations. It is clear one topic of dispute will be the recurring one of American exports of advanced technology to Beijing. A congressional study just last week called for tighter controls, including on supercomputers. Those who favour new restrictions argue that the United States should not sell China equipment of potential military value while their long-term security relations remain... https://www.scmp.com/article/272148/previous-dealings-add-byte-computer-row?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/272148/previous-dealings-add-byte-computer-row?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Feb 1999 16:00:00 +0000 When Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty, there were concerns worldwide about what Beijing might do. Eighteen months later, the mainland's main response is clear - it has not done much. As promised, Hong Kong has largely been left to manage its own affairs for better or worse. Though senior British officials have gone, Chinese bureaucrats have not moved in or begun issuing orders to their local counterparts. That has brought a sense of relief but also a nagging anxiety, according to... https://www.scmp.com/article/270248/challenge-defining-our-tomorrow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/270248/challenge-defining-our-tomorrow?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jan 1999 16:00:00 +0000 Back in Cultural Revolution days, one politically correct tour sometimes laid on for visitors included a trip to the loess caves of Yenan, where the Long March came to an end. There Communist Party workers showed off the modest cliff-dwelling quarters occupied by Chairman Mao Zedong and his colleagues during some dark days of their war against Japanese invaders and Nationalist pursuers. They understandably called those times the most inspiring in party history. But an odd thing happened if a... https://www.scmp.com/article/265373/toing-and-froing-truth-and-tolerance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/265373/toing-and-froing-truth-and-tolerance?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Dec 1998 16:00:00 +0000 When the United States Congress began lumbering toward its possible impeachment of President Clinton, many Asians (among others) viewed the whole thing with much alarm. They feared the world's last superpower might grow so transfixed by a tawdry sex scandal that it couldn't provide the slightest leadership on anything important to them - such as keeping the global economy afloat. 'At a time when the world community is plagued by financial crisis, the lack of American leadership is a cause for... https://www.scmp.com/article/259233/positive-side-clinton-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/259233/positive-side-clinton-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 1998 16:00:00 +0000