https://www.scmp.com/rss/721/feed Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China. A journalist for 25 years, he has worked for various publications in Hong Kong and Toronto as a news reporter and editor. He has also lectured in journalism at the University of Hong Kong. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Alex Lo Alex Lo Another day, another big humiliation for William Lai Ching-te. The Taiwanese leader effectively had to cancel a visit to eSwatini, the island’s last partner in Africa, for the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession to the throne and his 58th birthday. Taiwan said the visit was “postponed” after the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar cancelled their previously approved overflight permission without warning. Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3351128/kuomintang-gets-carrots-dpp-stick?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3351128/kuomintang-gets-carrots-dpp-stick?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Few contemporary academics have played a more important role than Daniel Bell in explaining the philosophical and cultural roots of modern Chinese rule to a foreign audience. It’s not for nothing that he was once named a “cultural leader” by the World Economic Forum. Our city is privileged that he joined the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty as the chair professor of political theory not too long ago. Equally important is his post as the founding editor of the China book series with the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3350710/how-ancient-chinese-philosophers-make-sense-modern-headaches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3350710/how-ancient-chinese-philosophers-make-sense-modern-headaches?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo The Chinese are the heirs of mythical hero archer Hou Yi who shot down nine suns to save humanity from scorching heat and left just one to give them warmth. Today, they have mastered solar energy and the wind, and the five elements (wuxing). China has reinvented itself as the new electro-civilisation state. Let us remember that in the yin/yang, the sun is the yang, and their intricately connected wuxing are metals (originally gold), wood, water, fire and earth. The elements make up nature... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3350643/china-just-emerging-electro-state-or-electro-civilisation-state?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3350643/china-just-emerging-electro-state-or-electro-civilisation-state?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:42:50 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Even before Donald Trump returned to the White House, Vietnam’s military planners were already busy preparing for a possible second invasion by the United States and its allies. In the “Second US Invasion Plan”, secretly issued in August 2024, the Vietnamese military rejected playing any part in America’s China containment strategy in the Asia-Pacific. Rather, it sees the US promotion of “freedom and democracy” as a cynical ploy to maintain hegemony in the region. The document, released in... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3350254/vietnam-and-china-are-now-perfectly-aligned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3350254/vietnam-and-china-are-now-perfectly-aligned?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:30:07 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Taiwan’s political pendulum is reversing. The government led by Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai Ching-te is increasingly discredited, not least for selling out the jewel of its semiconductor industry to the United States under pressure from President Donald Trump. The Legislative Yuan is controlled by the opposition led by the Kuomintang (KMT). Party politics is now institutionalised into a sustained confrontation between the island’s presidency and its legislature. Now, budgets... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3349841/kmt-chief-shows-way-forward-avoid-blind-confrontation-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3349841/kmt-chief-shows-way-forward-avoid-blind-confrontation-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Almost immediately after an Iranian-US ceasefire was announced, Israel worked to sabotage it by carrying out massive bombings across Lebanon, causing hundreds of casualties. Really, who are the terrorists? Even so, it’s hard to see how the supposed two-week ceasefire could hold when each side is making maximalist demands. As many experts have observed, control of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, is ultimately the sticking point. Donald Trump may not... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349824/irans-emergence-major-power-should-be-welcome-multipolar-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349824/irans-emergence-major-power-should-be-welcome-multipolar-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:25:43 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo A close mainland relative cried her eyes out while video-calling with my wife and me recently. Like many in China who have bought property since the late 2010s, she is sitting on a big loss with her flat outside downtown Chongqing. The city saw sales pick up around the time of the Spring Festival, traditionally an off-season. But when she tried her luck, the offers from potential buyers were brutal, and she called off the sale. Knowing that I work for an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3349327/helpful-analysts-predict-china-property-recovery-now-soon-and-much-later?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3349327/helpful-analysts-predict-china-property-recovery-now-soon-and-much-later?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Apr 2026 01:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo It might have made a good April Fool’s joke. Unfortunately, it was not. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy b*****ds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.” Really, who writes like that? Even a tinpot dictator from some godforsaken hellhole would have written a less expletive-laden post to retain some personal dignity as a leader of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3349114/why-donald-trump-now-needs-forever-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3349114/why-donald-trump-now-needs-forever-war?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo “T he United States has become a rogue state.” That’s the title of a recent column in the Foreign Policy magazine. I generally agree with the author, but would dispute the title. The US has always been a rogue state. And yet, something does seem to have changed fundamentally under Donald Trump, especially with his second term in office. So what gives? “The United States is now acting like a predatory hegemon, exploiting positions of leverage built up over decades to exploit allies and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349185/america-has-always-been-rogue-state-and-even-more-so-under-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349185/america-has-always-been-rogue-state-and-even-more-so-under-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:15:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Last month in Florida, many leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean showed up for the so-called Shield of the Americas summit. Prefacing his speech, the self-styled US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared, “I only speak American.” Most people there spoke Spanish and/or English. Both the northern and the southern parts of the hemisphere are called American, but there is no such language as Hegseth’s, at least linguistically. However, it was clear what he meant. The United States just... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349098/why-beijing-now-only-true-partner-africa-and-latin-america?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3349098/why-beijing-now-only-true-partner-africa-and-latin-america?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:05:43 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo The whole world has come to oppose the Iran war, including most Americans. Just as Israel took part in the 1956 Suez crisis, which signalled the last hurrah of European imperialism, it is now jointly prosecuting a pointless but destructive war that is likely to spell the twilight of American hegemony. This time, though, the Jewish state won’t get away so easily. From the Palestinian territories to Iran and Lebanon, it can no longer hide its Zionist expansionism that threatens the entire... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3348754/twilight-us-hegemony-and-israeli-expansionism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3348754/twilight-us-hegemony-and-israeli-expansionism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Why didn’t China develop its own scientific and industrial revolutions when it made so many discoveries and advances over millennia? That is often called “Needham’s question”, named after the historian of Chinese science and tech Joseph Needham. Why didn’t China develop capitalism during the Song dynasty when it was so close to achieving a breakthrough with trade, commerce, currency and semi-industrialisation, and an emerging merchant class? The Hungarian-French sinologist Etienne Balazs, among... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3348381/why-china-always-misunderstood-and-misrepresented?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo It’s called the fundamental formula of accounting. During a friendly chitchat between Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton, perhaps to show how seriously China was liberalising its economy, the Chinese communist leader reportedly showed off his knowledge of modern capitalism by citing assets = liabilities + equities. Today, Xi Jinping might also quote the formula to his counterpart Donald Trump, the self-styled ultimate deal maker. After all, the formula shows one person’s asset is another person’s... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3348306/iran-has-shown-wests-containment-china-fools-errand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3348306/iran-has-shown-wests-containment-china-fools-errand?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:15:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo The way Stephen Selby tells it, Guiguzi (鬼谷子) sounds like the ancient Chinese version of Dale Carnegie’s enduring self-help book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Given its contents and message, it should have been a text for the ages. After all, whether ancient, modern, postmodern, Eastern or Western, many of us still need to kiss up to wayward bosses and stroke their egos if we want to advance our careers – not to mention ancient despots who could chop off your head for saying the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3347806/how-win-friends-and-influence-people-ancient-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3347806/how-win-friends-and-influence-people-ancient-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Is bulls*** worse than lying? The late Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt thought so. I am not entirely convinced that it’s always true, but in the case of US President Donald Trump, it most certainly is. I am not denying Trump is a constant liar, but I think the essential characteristic that defines his personality and career as a politician is his BS rather than lies. As Frankfurt wrote in his essay On Bulls***, “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347538/donald-trump-purest-symbol-post-truth-america?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347538/donald-trump-purest-symbol-post-truth-america?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Like any revolutionary technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is morally neutral – it’s the use to which it is put that makes it harmful or beneficial. But as I examined last week in this space, it’s America’s tech bros and their alliance with the US military, not AI itself, who are the real terminators of jobs and human lives. While they are obsessed with achieving AI supremacy, Chinese policymakers have been far more concerned about regulating it, mitigating its impact on job losses and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3347507/china-ai-about-job-creation-and-quality-not-mass-retrenchments?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3347507/china-ai-about-job-creation-and-quality-not-mass-retrenchments?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Mar 2026 16:41:44 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo If you think the Israeli-American war of aggression against Iran is bad, it could get a lot worse. For the first time, a senior American official has openly acknowledged that Israel possesses nuclear warheads and could deploy them in the war. “Israel is getting hit harder than they’ve ever been hit before in their history,” said David Sacks, the White House’s artificial intelligence and crypto tsar, on the All-In Podcast. “If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347172/why-world-may-now-need-iranian-nuclear-bomb?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3347172/why-world-may-now-need-iranian-nuclear-bomb?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo From around the turn of the century, a revived Confucianism was all the rage. Mainland Chinese academia heavily promoted it. Beijing politicised it as compatible with communist ideology. For state propaganda departments, Confucianism was repackaged as a cultural product for foreign consumption. That wave of interest subsequently died down, along with the closure of many Confucian Institutes around the world. So why study Confucius today? Well, why read any great philosopher? But there is a more... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3346837/rescuing-key-confucian-text-centuries-ignominy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3346837/rescuing-key-confucian-text-centuries-ignominy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Mar 2026 01:30:07 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo There is no artificial intelligence (AI) race to dominate the technology except in the minds of America’s billionaire tech bros and the ruling elites in Washington. Unfortunately, the global news media often uncritically adopt this dog-eat-dog narrative, including sometimes this newspaper. Now, I am not denying the intense competition between China and the United States in AI and other major industries of the 21st century. I am, however, claiming that competition is basically an end in itself... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3346675/humane-chinese-ai-versus-dog-eat-dog-american-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3346675/humane-chinese-ai-versus-dog-eat-dog-american-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo A declining superpower and an aspiring regional hegemon make a deadly combination. The warmongering duo of the United States and Israel have now given the world an illegal and potentially catastrophic war in Iran. It’s a tragic irony that both countries have a culture of extreme self-righteousness, with a constant army of apologists telling others they must stand up to evil wherever it exists because if they don’t, it will come for them one day. Well, that day is here, but guess who’s committing... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3346228/trump-and-netanyahus-iran-quagmire-wrecking-global-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3346228/trump-and-netanyahus-iran-quagmire-wrecking-global-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:30:07 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Since Israel and the United States launched their illegal and disastrous war against Iran, some Western apologists for this axis of aggression have dragged China into their propaganda. They say the war exposes how unreliable and useless China is as an ally and partner because it is nowhere to be found in Iran’s hour of need. The question is not whether Beijing should stick out its neck. No one wants to get involved in this potentially catastrophic war. That includes America’s Nato allies, which... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345987/iran-war-exposes-risks-being-us-ally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345987/iran-war-exposes-risks-being-us-ally?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Is the US in decline? Many Chinese public intellectuals and journalists have long been told, or else they have talked themselves into believing, its inevitability. Now, some are not so sure after the Venezuela and Iran strikes. But of course the United States is in decline. That is so regardless of China’s rise or fall. It’s a domestic thing. Unfortunately, the rest of the world may long suffer the consequences. A declining superpower is a very dangerous beast. Exhibit No 1: Donald Trump and his... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3345885/america-decline-will-keep-losing-wars-weaker-foes-including-iran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3345885/america-decline-will-keep-losing-wars-weaker-foes-including-iran?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:15:06 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo I am a sucker for all kinds of humour, including tasteless jokes. But I draw the line at sick jokes being reported as serious news. As far as those jokes go, the Monday appearance of US first lady Melania Trump as chair of a United Nations Security Council meeting takes the cake. The topic of her speech? Children, technology and education in conflict. She declared that the US “stands with all of the children throughout the world”. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. The cynicism and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345518/why-melania-trumps-un-speech-affront-decency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345518/why-melania-trumps-un-speech-affront-decency?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo A suspected CIA-funded publication in Asia recently asked where all the Chinese wolf warriors have gone. It was referring to those supposedly rude envoys who harangued the governments of their host countries and foreign ministry spokespeople who confronted foreign reporters at news conferences. Well, Beijing reined them in long ago. But US President Donald Trump has unleashed his own. Open hostility towards host countries and their peoples seems to be a job requirement in Washington for a US... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345151/under-trump-us-has-unleashed-its-own-wolf-warriors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345151/under-trump-us-has-unleashed-its-own-wolf-warriors?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed also are those who stay out of trouble while the vainglorious and bloodthirsty go to war thinking they can dominate and win. Aggression almost never works out as intended, even with temporary success. More often than not, the warmongers don’t even achieve that much. So good luck with imperialist-wannabes Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, and their latest war of aggression. China will always stay out of other people’s fights. Never get entangled, never get... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3345045/china-always-ends-winning-when-united-states-goes-war-others?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3345045/china-always-ends-winning-when-united-states-goes-war-others?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Mar 2026 13:15:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo If Caligula were the president of the United States, Taiwan’s leader William Lai Ching-te might still kowtow to him. By now, it seems pretty clear that US President Donald Trump has no real policies to speak of, only caprice and vague ideological preferences. That was how bad emperors acted, and Trump obviously sees himself as some kind of king, unrestrained by anything other than his personal inclinations. It’s not surprising there have been “No Kings” protests across the US. From his lifelong... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3344682/taipei-must-break-free-its-abusive-relationship-washington?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3344682/taipei-must-break-free-its-abusive-relationship-washington?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo It has been a sad time for the legions of fans of Noam Chomsky, having to see their hero in a photo hobnobbing with the late paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein inside the latter’s private jet. The picture and their email exchanges were part of millions of pages released by the US Justice Department from its so-called Epstein files. So far, the most high-profile fallouts have been, understandably, the arrest of the former Prince Andrew, the public disgrace of British Labour Party... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3344334/chomskys-legacy-should-be-understood-beyond-epstein-files?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3344334/chomskys-legacy-should-be-understood-beyond-epstein-files?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 01:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo A former senior US official has said working closely with allies and partners is the only effective way to constrain China. “Given the size and the immensity of the China challenge, the only way that the United States is going to be effective to meet that challenge is if we work with other partners and allies,” said Kurt Campbell, the former deputy secretary of state under Joe Biden. That is no doubt true, but good luck convincing them. When so many top officials within the US government up to... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3344272/how-unhinged-washington-unleashes-american-craziness-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3344272/how-unhinged-washington-unleashes-american-craziness-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo When you buy a stock, you are paying for future profits, not current earnings. It seems that a similar principle applies to countries. The fact that a company or a country is at the top now means nothing if the main indicators are flashing red. I am reminded of this investment adage by a new article in Foreign Affairs, titled “The Multipolar Delusion and the Unilateral Temptation”. It argues there has been, and still is, only one hegemonic pole in the international order, and that is the United... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3344011/america-without-independent-institutions-cannot-stay-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3344011/america-without-independent-institutions-cannot-stay-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Many Anglo-American conservatives think Western civilisation is what holds the world together. Some have long argued a study of it for young people in college, usually meaning a sustained reading of the so-called Great Books of the Western world, should be made mandatory to learn their own culture and its unparalleled greatness. At the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We are part of one civilisation: Western civilisation. “We are bound to one another by the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3344025/why-western-civilisation-incapable-saving-western-society-today?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3344025/why-western-civilisation-incapable-saving-western-society-today?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:00:13 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Washington’s contempt and even hostility has led to a fundamental rethink among its European and Canadian allies. Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa is rapidly reorienting its defence, security and economic policies against an openly predatory United States. Even the ever compliant Europeans are starting to openly articulate a more independent defence posture and to fortify their economies in the face of Donald Trump’s universal tariff war and financial threats. And yet, Australia, which... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343922/forget-canada-real-51st-american-state-appears-be-gullible-australia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343922/forget-canada-real-51st-american-state-appears-be-gullible-australia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:00:16 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker must have mistaken China for his boss, Donald Trump. After all, it was the US president who kept saying he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Whitaker claimed Beijing could stop Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day if it wanted to. “China could call Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” he said. “China could stop buying Russian oil... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343643/china-and-un-are-not-problem-ukraine-and-palestine-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3343643/china-and-un-are-not-problem-ukraine-and-palestine-west?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:34:58 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo There is this old British chestnut that says justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. Justice has been amply served in the 20-year sentence handed down to former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, but it has not been seen to be done in many quarters, especially in the West. There is the reality of justice and the appearance of it, and the two don’t always or even usually coincide. There are two main reasons behind the widespread Western criticism of Lai’s case. One is that... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3343269/western-media-criticism-jimmy-lai-case-verdict-needs-fact-check?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3343269/western-media-criticism-jimmy-lai-case-verdict-needs-fact-check?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2026 01:30:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo China has a few red lines. But if you respect them, life can be smooth and wonderful. China doesn’t care if you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu or an atheist. It doesn’t care if your government is democratic, theocratic or dictatorial. If you want to do business, China is more than happy to partner with you. If you need aid, that’s fine; it won’t tell you what to do with the money or otherwise dictate your finances, so long as it sees some returns, whether commercial, strategic or... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342876/outside-its-few-red-lines-china-ultimate-win-win-country?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342876/outside-its-few-red-lines-china-ultimate-win-win-country?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2026 01:30:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo If American users of TikTok think its transition to majority US ownership would make it more secure and freer, they are sorely mistaken. Rather, they should expect the opposite. Some 170 million TikTokkers received a pop-up message telling them that if they wanted to continue with the service, they had to agree to new terms of service and privacy policy under new US majority ownership. Users almost immediately sensed a difference in the online environment. There were news reports that the social... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342846/tiktok-deal-good-chinese-owners-terrible-users-united-states?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342846/tiktok-deal-good-chinese-owners-terrible-users-united-states?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Feb 2026 14:15:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo While China emerges as an unmistakable superpower, “Great” Britain or the “United” Kingdom increasingly sounds like self-mockery. Much of the UK outside London is threatening to descend into developing-world status. There have been at least a dozen instances of English councils declaring bankruptcy since 2018, while one in four could be insolvent by 2027. Diplomatically, it turns out the American cousin across the Atlantic thinks nothing of the so-called special relationship, as London... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342457/starmer-faces-hysterical-backlash-over-new-chinese-embassy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342457/starmer-faces-hysterical-backlash-over-new-chinese-embassy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:30:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Now we know why they didn’t want to release the Epstein files. It’s not just about implicating US President Donald Trump, who was a long-time close friend of the infamous paedophile and sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. Rather, they basically implicate the ruling and business elites of the Anglo-American world. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a wave of mass hysteria sweeping across the United States based on fear of satanic cults, child abuse and sacrifices. Well, it turns out maybe it wasn’t... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3342046/epstein-files-reveal-underbelly-western-elites?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3342046/epstein-files-reveal-underbelly-western-elites?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:30:37 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo A publisher kindly offered me an opportunity to interview Eyck Freymann, a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University, and to review his new book, Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China. I think I must decline. I am sure he is a great scholar and thinker but I already have too many unread books on the shelves demanding my attention, a constant accusing presence reminding me what a slow and lazy reader I am. And Taiwan? I don’t think I want to waste time engaging with the indoctrinating... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342009/how-prevent-war-china-return-taiwan-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3342009/how-prevent-war-china-return-taiwan-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2026 13:00:16 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Three news items caught my eye over the past few days. The European Union is finally ready to totally ban the import of Russian natural gas. (You mean they have still been buying Russian gas?) The new National Defence Strategy put out by the Pentagon says the United States will de-prioritise Europe – which must address its own regional security needs – and focus on deterring China. And former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder wrote a piece in a newspaper that ended up drawing a lot of flak for... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3341636/when-doubt-eu-leaders-dig-even-bigger-hole?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3341636/when-doubt-eu-leaders-dig-even-bigger-hole?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo In the science and tech race, China is steadily advancing while America is retreating. That’s the conclusion of multiple Western studies. US President Donald Trump’s own policies have greatly contributed to this trajectory. Several salient features in this race for supremacy have been identified: China’s highly focused state support of science and tech, America’s federal defunding of them, and a nation of engineers and science graduates versus a nation of lawyers. “China is an engineering state... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341319/steadfast-state-support-key-china-winning-tech-race-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341319/steadfast-state-support-key-china-winning-tech-race-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 02:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo The way Lord Ismay, the first Nato chief, summarised the purpose of the Western military alliance – “Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down” – became one of the great political aphorisms of the 20th century. Mark Rutte, the current Nato secretary general, is still following it. Perhaps he has yet to receive a memo telling him it’s now a very different century with vastly changed circumstances. Today, the Russians are in, the Americans are out, and the Germans are, well,... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3341163/trump-threatens-greenland-nato-chief-says-china-real-threat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3341163/trump-threatens-greenland-nato-chief-says-china-real-threat?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jan 2026 10:51:56 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Having studied and lived in North America in my youth and now middle age, one thing I have come to realise is that there is not one Canada but several, not one United States but many. Another is the contrasting national sentiments about equality – a fundamental Canadian value enshrined in its constitution – and inequality, which is not only tolerated or ignored but even celebrated in many powerful circles in the US, including the current White House. Canadians are generally proud of their... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340708/too-much-egalitarianism-ruining-canada?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340708/too-much-egalitarianism-ruining-canada?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jan 2026 21:30:11 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Alberta is a very cold place in winter, even by Canadian standards. And yet, in the past week, hundreds of Albertans formed long queues in freezing weather, in big cities and small towns, to sign a petition for an independence referendum for the province. If at least 177,732 signatures – 10 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the last provincial general election – are collected and verified before early May, a referendum on Alberta statehood can be legally held in the autumn. It now... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340386/how-donald-trump-could-break-canada?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3340386/how-donald-trump-could-break-canada?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:30:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Fifty Shades of Grey is one of the most tediously boring films I have ever watched. But I do admit being mildly amused watching the young Dakota Johnson being “punished”, and then having to say thank you. I am reminded of the erotic Hollywood blockbuster after reading about Taiwan’s latest tariff deal with the United States, which is not so much an agreement as complete capitulation, and then having to say “thank you, master” to the White House under Donald Trump. There ought to be a separate... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3340338/taiwan-has-just-sold-out-tsmc-and-half-its-chips-industry-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3340338/taiwan-has-just-sold-out-tsmc-and-half-its-chips-industry-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:30:15 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Like many long-time reporters in Hong Kong, I had occasional dealings with David Webb, the market transparency and shareholder rights crusader who died this week of prostate cancer at the relatively young age of 60. Almost all of my encounters with him over the years were annoying and slightly unpleasant. But they made me respect him all the more. He once chastised me for misstating a relatively obscure Nasa space mission in the 1960s and demanded a print correction. I thought, who cares? But I... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3339824/thank-you-david-webb-you-made-hong-kong-better-place?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3339824/thank-you-david-webb-you-made-hong-kong-better-place?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jan 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Some people wonder whether China could carry out a sophisticated state-sponsored kidnapping like the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife. And it’s not just that; there is state terrorism like remote assassinations by drones, which also end up killing a lot of civilian bystanders, not to mention breaching the sovereignty of their countries. The United States can apparently do that anywhere around the world. Such Hollywood-style cowboy militarism no doubt makes its... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3339687/chinese-century-may-already-be-here?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3339687/chinese-century-may-already-be-here?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jan 2026 01:30:10 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Grandstanding, self-righteous and hypocritical, what can possibly go wrong with the European Union under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas? For a superstate bloc that supposedly stands for the rule of law, human rights and international justice, Brussels has given the lamest excuse of a response to the murderous American raid in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. European Commission President von der Leyen said the bloc was “closely... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3339511/days-eu-and-nato-may-be-numbered-under-von-der-leyen-and-kallas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3339511/days-eu-and-nato-may-be-numbered-under-von-der-leyen-and-kallas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Jan 2026 14:15:08 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth was in a belligerently high mood after the Pentagon’s successful operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in the dead of night. After all, the guy managed not to leak the US war plan in unsecure chat groups before the raid in Caracas, as he did with the US bombing of Houthi militias in Yemen in March. Remember that one? Maybe I have a warped sense of humour, but I still find this passage from the chief editor of the Atlantic,... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3339141/us-raid-venezuela-lays-bare-its-law-jungle-approach?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3339141/us-raid-venezuela-lays-bare-its-law-jungle-approach?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jan 2026 12:30:11 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Washington warns that enemy groups south of the border are terrorising nearby areas and causing trouble. Military actions would be taken to deal with the problem, including sending the US military into the territories of another sovereign country, which is being blamed for failing to control drug cartels. That does sound like Donald Trump, who has been accusing Mexico of failing to contain its drug cartels and threatening to send in US troops to take care of them. The US president repeated his... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3338762/monroe-doctrine-20-portends-end-us-empire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3338762/monroe-doctrine-20-portends-end-us-empire?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:30:09 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Donald Trump doesn’t even bother to hide his true intentions. The propaganda, by active commission and omission, has been left to the mainstream American news media operating on autopilot. The ‍United States is ⁠going to be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil ‍industry, the president told Fox News after authorising the American military to launch a coup d’etat and kidnap its head of state, President Nicolas Maduro. “We have the greatest oil companies in the ‌world, the biggest, the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3338698/united-states-returns-gunboat-diplomacy-21st-century-style?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/article/3338698/united-states-returns-gunboat-diplomacy-21st-century-style?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jan 2026 18:38:58 +0000