Showing 1 - 10 of 36
Jimmy Lai, the HK tycoon who stood up to China
News, James Pomfret & Jessie Pang, Published on 17/12/2025
» Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media mogul and China critic, was found guilty on Monday on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of sedition under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.
China's bluster over Japan's Taiwan remarks
News, John J Metzler, Published on 05/12/2025
» Beijing has gone rhetorically ballistic over comments by Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute "a situation threatening Japan's survival" that thus could trigger a military response. Her statement poses uncharacteristically tough talk from Tokyo at a time when tensions are running high in the Far East.
Floods a wake-up call
Oped, Editorial, Published on 11/11/2025
» Fears of an epic flood similar to the catastrophic inundation of 2011 have returned to haunt the public once again.
Wall Street risks shorting freedom in HK
Oped, Mark L Clifford, Published on 31/10/2025
» In early November, Wall Street's big guns will head to Hong Kong for a global financial summit, dining at the Palace Museum (featuring Chinese imperial works on loan from Beijing) before meeting at the nearby Rosewood Hotel -- one of the city's swankiest. There, the top brass from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and another 100 financial firms will enjoy delicious food and breathtaking views as Hong Kong's leaders pitch them on the profits to be made in the former British colony.
An Asean free from 'wars on drugs'
Oped, Gloria Lai, Published on 19/09/2025
» Asean governments recently met in Singapore for a regional meeting about drugs, where the host nation urged renewed commitment to a "drug-free region". The problem isn't simply the recycling of an outdated mantra first declared in 1998, nor the fact that the region's drug markets have only expanded since then, but that this approach ignores how government policies themselves shape those markets -- and the devastating harms that follow.
China holds back for now over Taiwan
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/07/2025
» 'I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we [the US and China] will fight in 2025," wrote General Mike Minihan, head of US Air Mobility Command, in a private memo two years ago. There are still five months to go, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he's wrong.
Defending our rights is now even deadlier
Oped, Jodie Ginsberg, Published on 09/05/2025
» The harassment, detention, torture, and eventual murder in 2006 of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian investigative journalist who exposed government corruption, the horrors of the Second Chechen War, and the increasingly autocratic regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the subject of a new film, Words of War.
China's 'grey zone' tactics pressure Taiwan
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 10/04/2025
» China's growing naval power is regularly and systematically harassing the waters around Taiwan in what appears to be rehearsal exercises for a future invasion of the self-ruled democratic island. Units of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), as well as swarms of military aircraft, regularly probe the waters and skies near Taiwan, often crossing into the island's sovereign airspace and waters.
US friends and foes buckle up for 'America First'
News, Peter Apps, Published on 01/02/2025
» Less than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Monday, new Secretary of State Marco Rubio met foreign minister counterparts from America's closest allies in the Indo-Pacific -- the so-called "Quad" with Australia, India and Japan, as aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson finished its first big 2025 training exercise in waters near the Philippines.
Taiwan signals new openness to nuclear power
News, Matthew Winkler, Miaojung Lin, Debby Wu and Yian Lee, Published on 23/10/2024
» Taiwan is "very open" to using new nuclear technology to meet surging demand from chipmakers devouring electricity in the AI boom, according to Premier Cho Jung-tai -- one of the strongest signs yet that the government is rethinking its opposition to reactors.