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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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 »
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Japan’s Asian future in the 21st century
The case for Japan to move firmly away from being bound to serve the paramount interests of the US in East Asia and beyond – as seen, erratically, from Washington – while emphasizing that Japanese interests are its foremost concern, is now demonstrably clear. Continue reading »
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The birth of global narrative power by the West
Once significantly devoted to explaining, advancing and celebrating Western universal values, western media outlets today are now far more engaged in manufacturing hostility towards China. Continue reading »
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Nervous neighbour: Why Canada should be worried about US democracy.But is Australia?
The US is headed down a very dark road, and Canada should prepare to deal with the cracking of the American polity. Continue reading »
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Beware Sinophobia over Xinjiang: the charge of genocide should never be made lightly
The treatment of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang Province under Chinese rule is a major talking point in diplomacy. There is a more nuanced view. Continue reading »
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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 »
