Hui Feng, Griffith University – The Conversation Few would have thought a US-China relationship marked by relative stability for half a century would be upended in just four years. But US President Donald Trump’s privileged tour of the Forbidden City in November 2017 by Chinese President Xi Jinping now looks like it happened in a…
Jeanne Snelling, University of Otago and Andrew Geddis, University of Otago – The Conversation The preliminary results of New Zealand’s referendum on the End of Life Choice Act were conclusive. Some 65.2% of voters supported the law coming into force, while 33.8% opposed it. Although around 480,000 special votes are still to be counted, the…
This article was first published in the New York Times. The idea of modifying Earth’s atmosphere to cool the planet, once seen as too risky to seriously consider, is attracting new money and attention. As the effects of climate change become more devastating, prominent research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on…
This article, written by Simon de Burton, was originally published in The Spectator. In recent weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to have driven the new Rolls-Royce Ghost, Bentley’s latest Bentayga and even the first completed example of Aston Martin’s £3.5m recreation of James Bond’s DB5 from the ‘Goldfinger’ film – but none turned heads quite…
Jonathan Dimson, Zdravko Mladenov, Ruchi Sharma, and Karim Tadjeddine – McKinsey & Company Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) have been the lifeblood of the European economy, accounting for more than two-thirds of the workforce and more than half of the economic value added. Yet the results of a recent McKinsey survey, conducted in August 2020,…
Corporate Q&A, Mike Tolentino – Week in China This article was originally published in Week in China. Sideshow Collectibles is a specialty manufacturer of collectible figures and statues, making goods based on characters from Marvel, Star Wars, DC Comics, Disney and others. Mike Tolentino oversees production, working with Chinese factories to assess whether their capabilities meet Sideshow’s standards. Here he…
Gwyn McClelland, University of New England This article was originally published on The Conversation. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will finally come into force after the 50th country (Honduras) ratified it over the weekend. The treaty will make the development, testing, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons illegal for those countries…
Cheng Li and Ryan McElveen – Brookings This article was originally published in China-US Focus. As the United States insignia was stripped and the American flag was lowered over the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, China, in late July, a bridge that had connected America with western China for 35 years was severed. Soon thereafter, the U.S. embassy…
Public intelligence assessments of China’s 2020 election preferences only tell half the story. This article by Rush Doshi, the director of the Brookings China Strategy Initiative, was first published by Foreign Policy. In August, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence claimed publicly that China “prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing sees as unpredictable…
