Editorial: Brussels should ‘de-ideologise’ China-EU ties

As last week’s 24th China-EU Summit seems to have made headway in getting the two sides’ comprehensive strategic partnership back on track, I am cautiously upbeat about the future development of one of the world’s most important political and economic relationships. However, I am also more convinced than ever that, ultimately, Brussels needs to “de-ideologise” its relationship with Beijing by, for instance, throwing its emphasis on “de-risking” and “systemic rivalry”

December 11, 2023 | BY admin

Comment: 0

Editorial: Xi scores a major success in San Francisco, stresses mutual respect

     President Xi Jinping’s five-day visit to the United States for the 2023 APEC Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco and his summit meeting with his US counterpart Joe Biden last week on the outskirts of America’s ethnically most Chinese city has turned out to be a major success for China’s diplomacy. Xi delivered three important speeches during his stay in the City by the Bay – an address at the Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organisations in the United States, a

November 20, 2023 | BY admin

Comment: 0

Editorial: Pursuing progress, ensuring stability: In memoriam of Li Keqiang

Deeply saddened and shocked by former premier Li Keqiang’s sudden passing on Friday, I do, however, have fond memories of covering his visit to Macau in October 2016 and his steadfast political strategy, firmly based on the principles of the Communist Party of China (CPC), that pursued progress while ensuring stability. From his inspection visit to Macau seven years ago, I recall Li as an intelligent and amiable person who easily won local people’s hearts. During his three-day

October 30, 2023 | BY admin

Comment: 0

Editorial: New BRI phase set to boost Macau’s int’l role

President Xi Jinping announced during the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) in Beijing last week eight major steps that China will take to support high-quality Belt and Road (B&R) cooperation. I am optimistic that the new phase of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will boost Macau’s role on the international stage as a business-service platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs), i.e., the world’s nine nations that have Portuguese as

October 23, 2023 | BY admin

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0

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

Comment: 0