Writer
Richard Cullen
Richard Cullen is an Adjunct 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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The CIA can’t make make up its mind who to back in Venezuela!
You need to fix your eye on the ball if you want keep up with the frocking and de-frocking of America’s offshore political proteges – especially in Venezuela. Continue reading »
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Why Japan is not an acceptable military ally
There is some terrible double-foolishness afoot, that is certain to be widely noticed beyond the Western bubble. Australia is stepping forward with gusto to secure its position as a best-military-buddy not only with America, the most warlike nation in history, according to Jimmy Carter, but also with Japan, one of the 20th century’s most infamous Continue reading »
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Public transport system is one of Hong Kong’s wonders
Bloomberg recently reported that Hong Kong has just been ranked as having the best metropolitan public transit system in the world, ahead of Zurich, Stockholm, Singapore and Helsinki. The study on which the report was based surveyed 60 major cities worldwide. It was carried out by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the Institute of Transportation Continue reading »
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Canberra and Beijing – The last fifty years of mutual benefits
The fiftieth anniversary, this year, of Canberra’s recognition of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China, has triggered many reflections. Continue reading »
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Sabre rattling in the US department of attack
With America pivoting from a war on terror to provoking China, why not cut to the chase and change the name of the US Department of Defence to the Department of Attack? Continue reading »
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How sound is the Ukraine debate?
Stephen M. Walt understands the deep anger felt over the Russian invasion but believes the Ukraine debate needs to be shifted away from its distorting over-reliance on moral outrage. Walt perceives a profound need for more dispassionate thinking. Continue reading »
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Divisive China-threat politics deliver defeat in Taiwan
In 2019, President Tsai Ing-wen led the DPP to record-setting election victories in Taiwan by megaphoning the China-Threat. This same approach has crashed badly for the DPP in the recent local elections in what can only be read as a rebuke to US China baiting and a win for regional peace. Continue reading »
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America’s Taiwan endgame options
We could hardly expect, nowadays, that the US would ever have China’s best interests at heart (or vice versa). But ultimately, neither does the US have the best interests of Taiwan at heart. It is the perceived hegemonic security interests of a fearful America that unquestionably dominate how America identifies what matters most of all: Continue reading »
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The central importance of China’s common prosperity
Nikkei diplomatic correspondent Ken Moriyasu debunks the notion that Xi Jinping has been set up as some sort of President-for-life, stressing that Xi’s tenure is conspicuously dependent on maintaining overall performance legitimacy at a time when head winds look set to dominate. Continue reading »
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Taiwan endgames
The term endgame was originally applied to the final stages of a multifaceted matching of minds in the likes of chess or bridge. The term has also been widely used in politics to introduce and debate outcome investigations, as in, the Cold War endgame, the globalisation endgame and the Ukraine War endgame. This article considers Continue reading »
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The remarkable resilience of Hong Kong
Vibrancy and efficiency combined with a particularly safe living environment all remain evident in Hong Kong in a way not commonly seen in other large, modern global cities. Still, the series of tests which the HKSAR faces today are acutely demanding. This, though, resonates with the position faced in most jurisdictions worldwide. Hong Kong, meanwhile, Continue reading »
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Western anxiety attacks intensify with the Chinese National Congress
On October 16, President Xi Jinping delivered his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). During the weeks prior to this, we witnessed a conspicuous intensification of Sino-phobic censures from across the Mainstream Western Media, triggered by the approaching National Congress. Leading commentators and core Western politicians have been Continue reading »
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“On The Beach” a haunting evocation of nuclear war
Professor Emeritus Richard Falk, from Princeton University, argues that, “nuclear dangers have become more salient than at any time at least in this century”. More than sixty years ago the outstanding novelist, Nevil Shute, accentuated the same profound hazard in his most considered work, “On the Beach”. Continue reading »
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Almost 90% of the world is not following America on Ukraine
A remarkable recent article in Newsweek, has documented concisely and convincingly how: “Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn’t Following Us on Ukraine” – and what consequences follow from this. Continue reading »
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Fostering trade beats making war every time
It is over a month since Nancy Pelosi’s vexing visit to Taipei and China’s disapproving response, which included large scale air and naval exercises around Taiwan. This ill-omened stopover by the third-ranking person in the US political hierarchy ineptly created, amongst other things, further acute doubt about Washington’s continuing commitment to the one-China principle. Continue reading »
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Is Hong Kong experiencing a ‘Teacher Exodus’? Time to correct the record
Is Hong Kong’s world class education system really seeing an exodus of teaching staff? Are reductions in staffing levels linked to political crackdowns and the COVID 19 Pandemic? Not so fast. Let’s correct the record. Continue reading »
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Entrenched political polarisation in America
Has the Republican Party gone completely rogue and is the American experiment beyond repair? Continue reading »
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President Xi signals that governance in Hong Kong must be more mindful of people’s expectations
Clear signs are emerging that Hong Kong’s essential “social contract” is undergoing renovation. Moreover, this process looks set to continue. Before examining why this is so, we need to consider the meaning of this expression. Continue reading »
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Alpha Ngai: Panda Power
Soft power was academically identified by the US political scientist, Joseph Nye, in 1990. It is a prominent aspect of how America projects itself internationally. China’s soft power is rather less developed and today it faces determined resistance. Yet, “panda power” is one form of Chinese soft power that has proved to be remarkably effective Continue reading »
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The wisdom of Billy Wilder and western media collusion
A number of recent articles have highlighted the media’s critical role in propelling the deterioration in relations with China, in Australia and well beyond. Continue reading »
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A most radical supreme court
Startling headlines have followed a series of recent, radical US Supreme Court judgments: “The US Supreme Court is turning the Constitution into a suicide pact”; “A new Supreme Court case is the biggest threat to US democracy since January 6”; and “Confidence in US Supreme Court sinks to historic low”. This latest raft of radically-charged Continue reading »
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The cost of unconditional support for Kyiv and Zelensky
“Russia-Ukraine war: The West must stop its unconditional support for Kyiv”; Continue reading »
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John Bolton admits he helped plan coups
John Bolton was the national security advisor to Donald Trump from 2018 to 2019. He worked in important roles for Republican Administrations in the US dating back to the Reagan era. He has now admitted that he helped plan coups. Continue reading »
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Ukrainian citizen views on the war in their country
A recent survey of Ukrainians, supervised by a leading US institution, has confirmed very strong public support for President Zelensky and the Ukrainian military combined with strong hopes of victory in the current deadly struggle. But the survey also indicates that, although Ukrainians hold Russia fundamentally answerable for the ongoing war, they also attribute significant Continue reading »
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Sorting truth from facts on military spending – the media doesn’t care
Certain statements offered by the defence ministers from Australia and the US about China at the recent Shangri La Dialogue displayed a startling absence of comparative fact-based credibility. Neither of these senior political figures appears to have had the veracity of what they said seriously challenged by the supervising media contingent present in Singapore. Continue reading »
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EU’s report on Hong Kong SAR a twisted narrative
Despite destructive chaos right in Europe’s own backyard, its politicians still find substantial time to lecture China on how its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region should be run. Continue reading »
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Ukraine and the failure to implement the Minsk Agreements
The road to war in Ukraine which the West ignores. Continue reading »
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Ukraine and the Americanised future of Western Europe
The proximate cause of the war in Ukraine, Wolfgang Streeck argues in a recent article, is Russia’s murderous assault on a neighbouring country with which it once shared a common state. Continue reading »
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Does Washington ever listen?
John Mearsheimer has been one of the most scathing, long-term critics of how the impact of the eastward expansion of NATO on fundamental Russian policy-setting was willfully ill-judged by Washington. Continue reading »
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The Chinese face of globalization
The Six Faces of Globalization is an important new book, which prompts reflection on how Western media outlets have shaped our understanding of globalization and how China’s distinctive perspective on globalization may be yet do likewise. Continue reading »
