(Originally published here on September 1, 2020 in South China Morning Post.) When US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, discussed China with the Atlantic Council’s Paula Dobriansky last week, he let slip something unusual for an administration that otherwise projects nothing but confidence about its chances for a second term. “Whether [Trump] has a [...]
US curbs on China’s Confucius Institutes are welcome, but they’re not the real target
(Originally published here on August 18) Washington has finally cornered China with its move against Confucius Institutes in the US (CIUS) last week. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s order that the US headquarters of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes must register as a foreign mission makes sense, but the distorted narrative that is being spun around [...]
Donald Trump is picking the wrong fights in his re-election campaign
(Originally published here on July 20 in the South China Morning Post.) When Fox News’ Neil Cavuto cut away from a campaign-style speech by Donald Trump from the White House last week to fact-check the United States president’s claims that financial regulations established by the previous administration were a “disaster”, the interruption didn’t spark the [...]
As George Floyd protests raged across the US, why did Donald Trump insist on posing in front of churches?
(Originally published here on June 9 in South China Morning Post.) Remember the New Testament story of how Jesus Christ got his henchmen to beat the living daylights out of merchants occupying the Temple of Jerusalem for defiling the house of worship with trade? Well, that wasn’t quite how it went. Jesus didn’t have any [...]
US outrage over national security law for Hong Kong puts Donald Trump and China trade talks in an awkward spot
(Oringinally published here on May 25, 2020 in South China Morning Post.) If you missed the statement last week from the US Trade Representative’s office about hopeful progress in its phase-one deal with China, that’s entirely understandable. It came through quietly amid the uproar created by the Beijing’s plan to promulgate a new national security law for [...]
The death of daily US coronavirus task force briefings should be cause for both celebration and mourning
(Originally published here on May 11, 2020 in South China Morning Post.) It’s time to celebrate and mourn the passing of the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing. As Americans watched the Covid-19 pandemic turn New York into an epicentre of death on a scale seen only in dystopian sci-fi films, they tuned into the task [...]
Coronavirus crisis? Trump’s bromance with Xi is going strong and he can blame everything on the Democrats anyway
(Originally published here on March 3, 2020 in South China Morning Post.) US President Donald Trump is absolutely correct to push back at critics who faulted him for the travel restrictions that the immigration authorities put in place a month ago. But to hear Trump tell the story, it was his political opponents from the Democratic Party [...]
By violating US judicial norms, Donald Trump might be putting himself and China in a lose-lose situation
(Originally published here on February 17, 2020 by South China Morning Post.) Asserting that Donald Trump feels a strong kinship with strongmen like Chinese President Xi Jinping used to be something of a rhetorical exercise. The assertion would be made to jolt those closest to Trump and also, with an overall sense of allegiance to [...]
How can the US judge China’s social credit system when American consumers are chained to big tech?
(Originally published here on January 6, 2020 by South China Morning Post.) As we move into 2020, expect China’s implementation of a social control system that leverages cutting-edge technology to keep tensions high between Washington and Beijing. China watchers have realised this effort is highly efficient, just as they finally understood last year that Beijing [...]
As Xinjiang makes international news, China’s counterattacks against the US miss the mark
(Originally published here in South China Morning Post on December 9, 2019.) Three years and no terrorist attacks. And remember the misery of Native Americans. We went from the Chinese government’s denial that it had set up camps for Uygurs to this justification after their existence could no longer be covered up. This is all [...]
