Author: Robert F. Delaney

(Originally published by South China Morning Post on August 6, 2019.) US diplomats and politicians talk endlessly about American ideals.  When addressing audiences worldwide, many are so high on rhetoric, they can’t see how many eyes in the room they send rolling. Human rights and democracy, they will tell captive audiences from the four corners [...]

(Originally published in South China Morning Post on July 22, 2019.) America sees reciprocity differently from China, an official from Beijing told a group of former diplomats and foreign policy experts in New York last week. “When it comes to specific issues, you want reciprocity, but in general you want to stay on top of [...]

(Originally published in South China Morning Post on July 8, 2019.) The spectacle of warplanes roaring over the Lincoln Memorial for Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” on July 4 – less than a week after the president squabbled with the United States’ strategic allies and made light of Russian election interference with his buddy Vladimir Putin at the [...]

Pride is in full swing in several cities. Perhaps not be the best time to bring up literature, but if you find yourself in a more intimate setting – away from the pulsing dance music and trying to pick up someone more cerebral – this might give you a talking point. It’s about gay subject [...]

(Originally published here by South China Morning Post.) In the great Sino-American rift that opens wider by the day, the word “civilisation” is already overdone. The C-word now occupies the debate around the current United States-China trade war in the same way that vape pens have become a fixture of adolescence. Both trends are equally [...]

(Originally published here in South China Morning Post.) If it was US President Donald Trump alone calling the shots from above during last week’s negotiations with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, we’d be reporting this week about the preparations for a summit with President Xi Jinping next month. That meeting looks doubtful since the latest round of [...]

(Originally published here by South China Morning Post.) Former White House adviser Steve Bannon made a splash in Washington last week with his call to brand those who have profited from business relationships with China as traitors. The audience at the event erupted in cheers, not surprising given that it was comprised mainly of members [...]

(Originally published here by South China Morning Post on April 2, 2019.) In the final stage of Patrick Ho Chi-ping’s bribery trial in New York last week, the prosecution held back, the judge doled out a lenient sentence, and the convicted man made a tearful apology. The sentencing of Hong Kong’s former home affairs secretary [...]

(Originally published here by South China Morning Post.) In the torrent of heartbreaking news last week, perhaps the only silver lining was that none of it was created by a Donald Trump executive order. Leave aside the US president’s denial that the massacre in Christchurch was part of a rise in white nationalism, and we can [...]

(Originally published here by South China Morning Post.) As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced an onslaught of political attacks last week over accusations of back-room dealing, Beijing piled on the pressure. When a member of China’s state-owned press questioned Canada’s judicial independence in light of accusations that Trudeau tried to interfere with a judicial [...]