China
Britain’s national security must not be sacrificed to net zero
Those who, like myself, experienced life behind the Iron Curtain understand instinctively that centrally planned economies beholden to an ideology…
What my pyjamas taught me about China
About seven years ago, I bought two pairs of pyjamas, one British, the other Chinese. At the time, they seemed…
China is holding the West to ransom over rare earths
China’s naked weaponisation of rare earths brings to mind Mao Zedong’s ‘four pests’ campaign, the old tyrant’s fanatical effort to…
The Chinese spy case you won’t have heard about
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, handsomely housed in London’s Bedford Square, is responsible for trade relations between the…
The questions the government must answer over the China spying case
Exactly a year ago, this magazine warned that ministers were showing a dangerous naivety towards China. We revealed that the…
Here be dragons: the truth about Chinese espionage
On 3 July a Chinese man, Xu Zewei, was arrested in Milan to face extradition on nine charges relating to…
Portrait of the week: Gaza ceasefire, unemployment increases and a Gen Z uprising
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, praised President Donald Trump for the Gaza ceasefire agreement while in India accompanied…
In defence of Chris Cash
Can you be a spy by mistake? If, with no treacherous intent, without ever intending to disadvantage your own country,…
Did Jonathan Powell torpedo the China espionage trial?
The antics of Keir Starmer and his top security adviser over the collapsed China espionage case bring to mind the…
A new era of nuclear weapons is here
The world is moving into a more dangerous age. According to the Peace Research Institute Oslo, last year set a…
Fragile China: who’s really in charge?
Xi Jinping effectively vanished in July and the first half of August. Some China watchers speculated that his unexplained absence…
What’s next for Taiwan?
Invasion by China – long threatened – would result in a serious global depression. But how will the US react?
The merchant as global reporter
Joad Raymond Wren explores the role played by Europe’s polyglot traders in disseminating news before the invention of the telegraph
The mixed legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski, strategist of the Cold War
Successful initiatives during the Carter presidency regarding the USSR, China and Afghanistan were counterbalanced by a serious misreading of the situation in Iran
Maoist China in microcosm: Old Kiln, by Jia Pingwa, reviewed
Smouldering resentment flares to self-destructive violence in a remote village as the Cultural Revolution serves as a pretext for vengeance and exploitation
Could the giant panda be real?
Even in the past century the animal was considered so exotic that many doubted its very existence
Is Xi Jinping’s time up?
Stories about Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, are blowing up on social media. He died in 2002, so why the…
The disposable vape ban has changed nothing
I felt a mixture of annoyance and relief when I bought my first non-disposable Elf Bar last weekend, ahead of…
Donald Trump can be sensible
We’ve learnt three things about the future of world trade from the temporary reprieve over tariffs that the US has…
Letters: Our private schools are China’s next target
Ka-shing in Sir: Ian Williams highlights (‘Chasing the dragon’, 3 May) the degree to which the Chinese state has acquired…
How China bought Britain
Somewhere in the bowels of the Foreign Office, civil servants are still working on the government’s ‘China audit’. The report…
The Chinese tried to get me drunk
China: what next? Around the time of the millennium, I wrote that during this century, many of the world’s great…
Britain needs a Rearmament Isa
The City’s self-styled ‘cheerleader in chief’, Lord Mayor Alastair King, on a recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai found leading…
The Boden Belt: the Lib Dems are the new party of the posh
The English social season has begun, kicking off with Gold Cup day. But this year, there is a new common…
China is not the West’s environmental ally
In the fight against climate change, China loves to present itself as the world’s White Knight. Armed with wind turbines…
