TOM PLATE WRITES — It is still true, even in this speed-freak era of AI and machine-learning, that international diplomacy needs governments to station quality representatives in foreign capitals, and for international organisations to listen and learn, soak up the ineffable atmosphere, and interact with real people, especially those with “issues”,…
Tag: SCMP
US-CHINA RELATIONS: GROWING PERIL OF WAR OVER TAIWAN WOULD BE FOOLISH AND COSTLY
TOM PLATE WRITES — Perhaps no gloomier assessment of the China-US relationship can be made than to note that, were it to sink yet another notch or two, there would be no relationship at all. Like a Japanese garden so minimalist that removing one stone might vitiate its existence, the…
US-CHINA RELATIONS: HOW BEIJING CAN LEAD AFTER THE CAPITOL CHAOS
TOM PLATE WRITES — It’s embarrassing. Like some televangelist preacher caught with his pants down at an out-of-town house-of-pleasure, America has been caught with its democracy down. Point one: a scary but also confused and confusing coup d’etat – another to come? Point two: A Republican president who should never…
US-CHINA RELATIONS: BEIJING CAN BE A CONTRIBUTOR TO PEACE AND PROSPERITY
TOM PLATE WRITES — The truth about the swelling importance of the People’s Republic of China in the Asia-Pacific is that without America’s corresponding help, unintended as it was of course, the reversal of position would not have happened as quickly. Perhaps it all began in 1997, with the collapse…
Hong Kong: WHEN THE ‘PRINCIPLE’ OF THE THING IS THE PROBLEM OF THE THING
TOM PLATE WRITES — There’s often little more than a thin line between admirable principle and annoying stubbornness, and that line is not always easy to identify. Lost in the miasma of mutually exclusive righteousness, each side says the other is wrong or evil or both. The tragic consequence is that…
CHINA-US RELATIONS: TWO SILOS BUMPING HEADS UNWITTINGLY
TOM PLATE WRITES — There are a few, though not yet many, Republicans openly furious with beleaguered President Donald Trump for seemingly asking Beijing to join his reelection campaign, in effect, by actively degrading a leading Democratic opponent. The target – former Vice President Joe Biden son’s alleged business activities…
CHINA-U.S. TV FACE-OFF: ‘TOO MILD, TOO SHORT, TOO RUDE’
SCMP’S KINLING LO WRITES — Disappointed commenters flooded China’s social media on Thursday with complaints that the on-air debate between an American and a Chinese news anchor on the trade war was too “mild” and too “short” – and that the “rude” Fox Business host Trish Regan kept interrupting CGTN’s…
HONG KONG: UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN OF THE SUPERPOWER
PROF TOM PLATE WRITES – It’s not easy being a superpower, and whoever would imagine such might be the case? Sometimes one almost feels an odd twang of sympathy for the leaders of China and the U.S. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown of the superpower. Could any…
HONG KONG: ‘US CHINA POLICY – A TALE OF TWO COASTS’
BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS OF THE SOUTH CHNA MORNING POST WRITES – If you find yourself peeved by the hawkish tone of most US commentaries about China’s rise, you should blame East Coast Americans who dominate the conversation about ties between the two major powers . In his new book YO=YO DIPLOMACY,…
KOREAN PENINSULA: BEIJING FLOATS A SURPRISE ‘GERMAN’ GAMBIT
FOUNDER TOM PLATE WRITES — How can a fiery logjam be tamed by throwing more logs onto the fire? The Backstory: The Korean mess began brewing long before the current U.S. administration took power. It is true that since January President Donald Trump’s madman/rocket man pugnacity has unnerved just about…
SINGAPORE: STRAIGHT FROM FACEBOOK TO FAMILY FEUD CONTINUED
WRITES BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS OF THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST — The eldest son of Lee Hsien Yang – the estranged younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – has defied an official order by the Singapore government’s lawyers to issue a public apology for a Facebook post about…
LOS ANGELES: A COLUMNIST DECONSTRUCTS THE ‘COMPLEXITY’ OF THE CHINA-U.S. RELATIONSHIP
TOM PLATE WRITES – International relations gets advertised and promoted by international-relations theorists as it were insanely complicated. But simply saying so doesn’t make it so. Sometimes it is all quite simple, and not in the least insane. For those who live in a neighborhood of nations with those allegedly…
HONG KONG: HOT SPOTLIGHT ON ONE OF ASIA’S BEST NEWSPAPERS
One of the most interesting, and politically pivotal, newspapers left on the face of the earth is the South China Morning Post. Located in southernmost China – in the special administrative district of Hong Kong – the SCMP has stood proudly as a stubborn and delightful outpost of honest, non-ideological…
HONG KONG: THE ‘FOOLISHNESS’ OF ZUCKERBERG – AND THE TOM PLATES OF THE WORLD
TOM PLATE WRITES – They say some things have to be seen to be believed, which is probably why the sight of a jaunty Mark Zuckerberg social-networking through Tiananmen Square on a bicycle (of all things) was almost unbelievable — unless you were there. Am I saying that the chairman,…
HONG KONG: Alibaba Investing in SCMP Group?
MIRANDA PAK WRITES – China’s biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba is rumored to be in talks about investing in SCMP Group Ltd, which publishes Hong Kong’s leading English newspaper the South China Morning Post. According to China Daily, Alibaba is trying to expand into the media and entertainment industries. More specifically, the e-commerce entity…
HONG KONG: DINNERS AND DEALS – THE SINO-U.S. RELATIONSHIP
See Asia Media Founder Tom Plate’s latest column in the South China Morning Post. Go to: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1862046/dinners-and-deals-different-diplomatic-styles-china-and-us