ChinaFile asked me and some other China people for our predictions about the coming year. This was mine: “Backlash” is the word for China in 2020. Engagement, progress, friendship, admiration, prosperity—the arc of change for China has moved, with the horrific exception of Tiananmen and its aftermath, in a steady, consistent, and predictable direction. Until..
The always heated rhetoric between China and Taiwan has ratcheted up another notch at the Lunar New Year, with China even issuing a soft-porn like military video entitled “My War Eagles Are Flying Around The Treasured Island”. The video, which should be seen to be believed, can be viewed here. Monocle radio invited Professor Steven..
With one month to go before a Sino-US trade war either is resolved or erupts again, I talked about brinkmanship diplomacy, intellectual property theft and the future of tech dominance with Monocle radio.
Two and a half years after starting this adventure in September 2012, today we’re relaunching the Tripod Advisors website. The service remains the same, and my heartfelt thanks goes out to all the clients and friends who have taken the journey with us and made it possible. The three legs of the tripod have developed..
I took part in a new ChinaFile conversation today spinning off the US debt ceiling/government shutdown kerfuffle. The whole conversation is here. My contribution said: “The debt standoff is temporarily over, apocalypse isn’t now and everyone can take a deep breath. For China, its big dance partner, the U.S., is still too big and..
Rumors and Chinese politics are nothing new. In fact, my memories of my four years as Reuters Beijing bureau chief in the 1990s are filled with frustrating days and nights trying to track down some intriguing/important/insane/incomprehensible rumor about political change, leaders’ health, diplomatic machination or fundamental shift in the landscape. Some turned out..