TOM PLATE WRITES — To what does Mr Xi Jinping truly aspire? Who does China’s ‘paramount leader’ think he is? Mr Xi Jinping doesn’t need fawning media coverage to mislead him into believing something he may or may not be. Whether China’s president is crowned person-of-the-year by a self-important U.S.…
TOM PLATE WRITES – There is not the slightest doubt that the emotional mentality of the West Coast versus the East Coast of the U.S. on a vital East-West issue such as the China relationship is different. The reason for bringing this up has to do with our currently besieged…
TOM PLATE WRITES – Begin with the unpretentious wisdom of the late Yogi Berra, a notably inarticulate Hall of Fame baseball player celebrated for memorable ‘Yogi-isms’: “It’s tough to make predictions,” one went, “especially about the future.” But the wish for the better can parent premature thoughts; the caring media…
STELLA CHENG WRITES – How fortunes change! In 2013, Macau’s gambling industry was seven times bigger than Las Vegas’. While Sin City was lucky to make $6.5 billion, Macau, the only location in China where gambling is legal, raked in $45 billion. But the “Gold Rush in the East” seems…
BRADLEY JAMES CAVANAGH WRITES – As the Chinese Communist Party seeks to keep itself relevant in the 21st century, it has a committed cheerleader in President Xi Jinping. Over the Lunar New Year, Xi made a rare round of appearances on major state-run networks to preach his message of revitalization…
TOM PLATE WRITES — You don’t have to be a saint to be a great and effective leader, but you do have to be audacious. So when an audacious leader comes along that a good many admirers suspect to be a saint, you probably have got something special in front…
TOM PLATE WRITES (THIS COLUMN IS REPRINTED COURTESY OF THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST) — .As Hongkongers can certainly testify, political parades in the public square or citizen protests occupying a thoroughfare can hide as much as they reveal. Last week, Beijing put together for all the world to see…
