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Sat, October 20, 2018 | 14:10

Opinion > Columnists > Frank Ching >

Friends worse than enemies

More than 20 years ago, in the run-up to Hong Kong’s handover to China, rumors were rife that the city was finished. Fortune magazine published the infamous “The Death of Hong Kong” article. Books appeared with such titles as “The Fall of Hong Kong,” “The End of Hong Kong” and “The Last days of Hong Kong.” Fortunately, that prediction turned out to be dismally wrong. In the last 20 years, Hong Kong has done quite well and its residents’ rights and freedoms have been largely protected. To a large extent this was due to the rule of law, underpinned by an independent judiciary, a legacy of Brit...

2017-09-07 17:37

China wins control of South China Sea

A year after China lost an arbitration case brought against it by the Philippines under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea regarding their dispute in the South China Sea, China has emerged the victor in real terms as it flouted the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision and the Philippines, under the Rodrigo Duterte government, did an about-turn by adopting a policy of cooperation with Beijing. Meanwhile, Vietnam, another country with territorial claims in the South China Sea, has bowed to China’s superior might after threats from Beijing and ceased oil exploration activities in an area within it...

2017-08-22 17:37

Bhutan should solve China-India row

The disputed Sino-Indian border, long a source of intermittent clashes, is once again the focus of a confrontation that sees Chinese and Indian troops facing off, this time in an area claimed by Bhutan. Interestingly, China’s territorial claim to the contested area rests on an 1890 treaty, the Convention between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet. At the time, Sikkim was a British protectorate and India was a British colony. Today, Sikkim is part of an independent India. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge and yet China pins its claim on this relatively ancient treat...

2017-07-24 17:04

XI's lie about world for everyone

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has been busy traveling the world to deliver the message that China is a responsible power, ready for world leadership. The official Xinhua news agency said of his visit to Hamburg for the G20 gathering: “Chinese President Xi Jinping has demonstrated China’s readiness to join the rest of the world in building a better world for everyone.”

2017-07-11 16:59

Hong Kong: Whither one country, two systems?

Twenty years ago, on July 1, 1997, Britain turned Hong Kong over to China under the Sino-British Joint Declaration which provided that the territory would be largely autonomous under the “one country, two systems” formula devised by then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. By and large, for the last two decades, rule of law has been upheld in the former British colony and rights and freedoms protected. And yet, as the 20th anniversary nears, there is a general feeling of unease that the situation is deteriorating and may get worse.

2017-06-13 17:22

US-China trade: A tale of two reports

By Frank Ching The release by China’s Ministry of Commerce of a research report on economic and trade relations with the United States is an opportunity for the two countries to narrow differences over trade. In particular, it is an opportunity for the US to take a more balanced view regarding its trade deficit with China.It is especially illuminating when the Chinese report is place side by side with that of the US Congressional Research Service made public last month on trade issues between the two countries. Both reports agree on certain factors that caused the high trade surplus fo...

2017-06-02 17:18

Korean Peninsula dynamics shifting

The election of Moon Jae-in as South Korea’s presidentmarks the re-emergence of a major player that had been silenced for five crucial months because of the country’s political paralysis, which ended with the impeachment and arrest of his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye. Moon in many ways is the opposite of Park. He is a liberal who, as a student activist, was imprisoned by Park Chung-hee, the father of the last president. A former human rights lawyer, he has made known his desire to improve relations with both North Korea and China, while insisting that the alliance with the United ...

2017-05-22 17:37

ASEAN softens stand at US call

What a difference a year makes. Last year, at the 29th Asean summit in Laos, a Chairman’s Statement, without mentioning China, “took note of concerns expressed by some Leaders on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the area.” While the leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations were careful not to criticize China by name, they let it be known that Chinese actions had eroded trust and raised tensions. But even such subdued voicing of co...

2017-05-04 17:04

Trump makes Xi buckle

North Korea’s failed missile test on Sunday provides an opportunity for the United States to press for more stringent sanctions and for China to demonstrate its willingness to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. Even though the missile blew up, the attempted launch was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. This means the US can now ask for additional sanctions. Clearly, those in place aren’t enough. If they were, North Korea wouldn’t have been able to conduct over the years five nuclear tests and a series of ballistic missile tests.

2017-04-19 17:06

Trump should give burger to Xi, not state dinner

The meeting between Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was announced barely a week before it was to be held, suggesting difficult problems ahead. Almost simultaneously, Trump tweeted, “The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one.” Indeed, the difficulties are likely to be much greater than the American president expects. Trump has zero experience in government, in diplomacy or in the military. He has no overall global policy and no Asia regional policy into which to fit a China policy. His foreign policy team is not in place. Aside from Secretary of State...

2017-04-07 17:27

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