Editorial: West’s ‘Chinese collapse’ theory rears its ugly head again

China and other major economies such as the US, Germany, Japan and India are faced with a host of economic challenges caused by a diverse range of factors, the fulcral challenge being that the world economy lacks growth momentum and the international community is experiencing geopolitical turmoil. And it appears that each time the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is responding to new challenges affecting its economy, the West’s infamous “Chinese collapse” theory is rearing its ugly

October 10, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Wise move for China & Timor-Leste to raise their level of ties

It was with great satisfaction when I read yesterday afternoon a Xinhua article about a joint statement by China and Timor-Leste to elevate their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The announcement about the joint statement* came after a working meeting between President Xi Jinping and Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão in Hangzhou on Saturday on the sidelines of the 19th Asian Games. Among other senior officials of the central government, Wang Yi, director of the

September 25, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Conference boosts GBA’s role as development promoter, connector & optimiser

Last week’s first-ever Business Conference on Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Development, at The Venetian Macao, has given the 11-city conurbation a big boost to its envisioned role as a promoter, connector and optimiser for trade and investment between China and the rest of the world. The conference was co-hosted by the central government’s China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the regional governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. Initiated

September 18, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Japan’s radioactive water release throws caution to the wind

Japan has thrown caution to the wind with the controversial release of radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea. In my view, it is better to err on the side of caution, particularly concerning anything involving nuclear power and the world’s food supply chains. What is at stake in Fukushima is also the potential threat to public health on a global level – which, I am convinced, calls for extra caution. “Caution is the eldest child of wisdom,”

August 29, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Dialogue, not barbs way forward in West’s China ties

US President Joe Biden did a disservice to ties between Washington and Beijing – and between the US-dominated West and China in general – with his latest barbs against the Chinese government in an error-riddled re-election campaign appearance in Park City, Utah on Thursday. According to US media and international newswire reports, such as Fortune* business magazine, Bloomberg and AFP, the octogenarian head of state claimed at the fundraiser that China was a “ticking time bomb”

August 14, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: The proof is in the pudding

Editorial        US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s four-day official visit to Beijing started on Thursday with a symbolically important rainbow over the airport and ended yesterday with a press conference at the US embassy during which she said that her high-level talks had helped put ties between the two economic giants on “surer footing”.Off course, that’s good news but – as any realist knows – the proof is in the pudding.* Let’s see how the Biden

July 10, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Li’s Franco-German tour set to leave decoupling from China in dustbin of history

Editorial        One of the most tangible outcomes of Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Germany and France last week is that it appears to have finally left the Trumpian trade-war threat of “decoupling” from China on the ash heap of history.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne reassured Li in Berlin and Paris respectively that they categorically reject the notion of decoupling their economies from China.* The idea of unleashing

June 26, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: People-to-people exchanges best hope to tackle North-South divide

Editorial        Quite fittingly, President Xi Jinping stressed in his high-profile meeting with US business magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates at the Great Hall of the People on Friday that “the foundation of China-US relations lies in the people.”Xi, who called Gates “an old friend”, added that “we have always placed our hope in the American people and wish all the best for the friendship between the two peoples”. The meeting between the two old friends

June 19, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial : G7’s risky anti-China ‘de-risking’ strategy

The recent G7 2023 Summit in Hiroshima ended with a Leaders’ Communiqué which includes some 600 words in two of its 66 paragraphs stating that the Western powers “stand together” on nine “elements underpinning” their respective relations with China, apart from claiming that “there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea”.On the one hand, the joint communiqué seems to extend an olive branch to Beijing such as by pledging that “our policy

May 26, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: We all need to think beyond the box

Editorial        Last week’s BEYOND International Technology Innovation Expo 2023 at the Venetian was a timely reminder that it is high time for all of us in Macau to think beyond the box. Patrick A. Regoniel, professor of Environmental Science at the Philippines’ Palawan State University, has defined thinking beyond the box as “thinking beyond what you already know, in discovering an unknown phenomenon – a fact or situation that simply exists or happens, …

May 15, 2023 | BY admin

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Editorial: Ho’s trip gives big boost to Portugal-Macau ties

Editorial        Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng’s four-day working visit to Portugal, his first overseas trip since he took the helm of the local government in December 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic impeded international travel for three long years, has given ties between the two sides a big boost. Due to my tight work schedule here, I was, much to my own displeasure, unable to cover his trip first hand. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) has been one of my

April 24, 2023 | BY admin

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Don’t bite the hand that feeds you – Editorial

Editorial        “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is a very useful metaphor, traditionally attributed to Greek poet Sappho (circa 630-570 BC), to describe ingratitude towards one’s benefactor. I couldn’t avoid remembering this very pertinent, over two-millennia-old piece of advice when hearing about Macau and Hong Kong community leaders’ poorly thought-out comments recently about “too many” tourists, tour groups from the mainland in particular,

April 11, 2023 | BY admin

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A meeting needed like a hole in the head – Editorial

Editorial        Taiwan’s pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California’s Simi Valley on Wednesday was needed like a hole in the head.I wonder what Reagan would have thought about the meeting. When the Republican stalwart paid the second state visit by a US president to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in April 1984 (Richard Nixon paid the first state

April 7, 2023 | BY admin

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30 years on, Macau’s constitutional backbone as vital as ever – Editorial

  Editorial         At its 30th anniversary, the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) – its constitutional backbone alongside the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – is as vital as ever. On Friday, the Basic Law celebrated the 30th anniversary of its adoption by the 8th National People’s Congress (NPC) and its promulgation by Jiang Zemin, the nation’s then president, on March 31, 1993. It was an historic

April 3, 2023 | BY admin

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