Writer
Richard Cullen
Richard Cullen is a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He was previously a Professor in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
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Gunboat diplomacy: Joined at the hip to the war-addicted US
After 40 years of successful diplomacy with China, Australia has hitched itself to a permanently warlike, self-seeking United States. How on earth did it come to this? Continue reading »
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Taiwan quo vadis: Is reunification inevitable?
With time on Beijing’s side, is there any other option than Taiwan and Mainland China reuniting? Continue reading »
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White Man’s Media: anxious and aggressive
It is useful to recall how so much Western media coverage, from Hong Kong, of the deeply intimidating, three-month shut-down of arterial roads in 2014 and the unremitting violence of the 2019 multi-month insurrection was, in each case, dominated, first, by a constant retelling of narratives supplied by the activists and secondly, by intense coverage Continue reading »
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The usual China-thumping and sanctimonious censuring have continued as intensely as ever.
Late 1989 is rightly regarded as a singular historical turning point when geopolitical business-as-usual was unambiguously interrupted: The Berlin Wall opened up and then came down. Major changes to previous regimes across Eastern Europe swiftly followed and by late 1991, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had become Russia, again. Continue reading »
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Boris Fawlty
Remember Basil Fawlty? When dressed in civilian clothes he called himself John Cleese. In real life, he and his wife Sybil ran a rather pretty hotel, which carried the Fawlty name, in a seaside resort in southwest England. Continue reading »
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A review of ‘The Dance of Folly: or how theatrics have tarnished the rule of law in Hong Kong
A series of acute points are made by Henry Litton in his new book, The Dance of Folly. These typically pivot on his observations of how judges, across various courts in Hong Kong, have been drawn away – by lawyers – from what he argues is the essence of well-grounded, common law reasoning towards playing Continue reading »
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How many are fleeing Hong Kong?
Google, “fleeing Hong Kong”, today, and over 100 headlines immediately present themselves. Most speak of deep fear and plans to escape. Continue reading »
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Hong Kong is not dying after all.
On 25 May, the China Centre at Jesus College, Cambridge University, hosted a significant online, two-hour seminar on The Future of Hong Kong. Continue reading »
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The rejected murder suspect and the Taiwan Government’s lack of interest in the Rule of Law.
A Hong Kong resident, Chan, Tong-kai murdered his pregnant Hong Kong girlfriend, whilst they were holidaying together in Taiwan in mid-February, 2018. After killing her and disposing of her body, he fled back to Hong Kong, admitting to his crimes. Significant CCTV circumstantial evidence helped confirm what had happened, but the murderer has yet to Continue reading »
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Covid political stress testing
In July, 2020, Armend Bekaj, writing on the News Website of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), in Sweden, argued that those who are democracy practitioners and promoters are regrettably being drawn into a misguided debate about “which political system is better at tackling the [Covid] pandemic, democracies or autocracies”. He noted the Continue reading »
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Hong Kong judge concerned with US intervention in Hong Kong affairs
A former Hong Kong legislator from the Civic Party, Jeremy Tam, recently applied for bail in the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Mr Tam has been charged with subversion under the new National Security Law (NSL) which has applied in the HKSAR since July 1, 2020. The NSL was drafted Continue reading »
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Hong Kong’s housing crisis- an underlying factor in the 2019 riots.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a serious housing problem. There has been much discussion over the last several years about how this has amplified social discontent. This conversation intensified during the major 2019 protests that became a lengthy anti-government and anti-Beijing rebellion. Continue reading »
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British meddling in Hong Kong’s court of appeal
The British Government still maintains significant influence in Hong Kong through the appointing of British subjects within Hong Kong’s highest court, the Court of Final Appeal, and have used this influence for geopolitical advantage. Continue reading »
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Protests or riots? First-hand retelling of Hong Kong’s ‘democracy’ struggle
Western media’s perception of the 2019-20 Hong Kong democracy protests, to some the riots, is a carefully cultivated and curated version of events. Testimony of those who witnessed them first hand should not be pushed aside to give space to the dominant narrative of the media. Continue reading »
