China
![The China-Russia East Route pipeline under construction in 2017. At 3,968 km in length, it is designed to carry 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia’s Far East to Shanghai. [Getty]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2018/11/Pipeline.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
China’s power grab steps up apace
Five years ago President Xi Jinping gave a speech in Kazakhstan, launching the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, a wildly ambitious…
In China’s new surveillance state, everyone will be watched, reviewed and rated
The bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai is the fastest in the world. It takes just over four hours to…
Adam Smith would have approved of Trump’s trade tariffs
‘What the hell is going on?’ That anxious wail of economic incomprehension has been heard ever since President Trump decided…
Trade wars: The method behind Donald Trump’s madness
Donald Trump campaigned as an unrepentant protectionist and, on the face of it, he has lived up to his word.…
Letters: Chinese investment in Africa is insidious and destructive
Chinese burn Sir: Your leading article last week ended up saying ‘It is unrealistic to expect that we can achieve…
Australia’s choice: Chinese trade – or American security?
Sydney For decades, Australia has been known as ‘the lucky country’. At the end of the world geographically, we are…
Are Trump’s tariffs a good idea? The arguments for and against
Yes Supporters of the global free-trade regime that has been built up over the past 25 years like to think…
The mind of Donald Trump, as explained by Anthony Scaramucci
When Anthony Scaramucci announced that he was writing a book about his time with Donald Trump, the joke was that…
Call this US-China tit-for-tat a trade war?
‘Stocks plunge as China hits US goods with tariffs,’ said a headline after the long weekend, and the FTSE100 duly…
When will the West take a stand on the persecution of Muslims?
Anti-Christian persecution, for so long a great untold story, has started to gain the world’s attention. But the suffering of…
I recycle – then lie to myself that I’m saving the planet
‘I just want to say one word to you, just one word. Are you listening? Plastics.’ That iconic punch line…
China’s new way to drown out the Christmas message? A sea of tat
If you think capitalism has blinged up Christmas, you should see what the Communists are doing to it. At this…
Why is China sending aid money to Surrey?
When I first hear that my well-heeled Surrey neighbourhood is receiving aid from China, I assume it must be a…
The Chinese classical-music revolution up close
On a bullet train out of Shanghai, a nuclear family catches my eye. The father, weather-beaten and wearing an ill-fitting…
If China backs Trump on North Korea he won’t like the quid pro quo
The first election day since Donald Trump was elected president a year ago brought a funereal mood to Washington that…
One man rules
Optimists speculate that Xi Jinping’s power accumulation is the prelude to a burst of liberalising reform in his second five-year…
Low life
My mother has various chronic illnesses and finds it almost impossible to remain both immobile and awake during the day.…
Beyond the pale
Setting off to spend a year teaching English in Zhejiang province in south-eastern China, I expected plenty of surprises. But…
Stitches in time
When Martha Ann Ricks was 76 she travelled from her home in Liberia to London to meet Queen Victoria. The…
China syndrome
Every day on his way to work at Harvard, Professor Allison wondered how the reconstruction of the bridge over Boston’s…
Why confront the ugly lie of Islamic State with a tacky fake?
There is fakery in the air. And maybe the French are done with deconstruction. A drone operated by a French…
Meet the fans who risk death for heavy metal
With its loud guitar riffs and even louder fashion, heavy metal has always been ripe for ridicule. In its mid-1980s…
The Heckler: the Shakespeare anniversary has stripped the Bard of his beauty
The feeding frenzy over the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death has reached its peak. Recently we’ve had Shakespeare’s complete…
How do we save the elephant? It’s simple: eat them
Laikipia I sip my Tusker beer on the veranda, staring at the elephant. He’s not the elephant in the…
How is Britain going green? By shutting down industry
A fortnight ago, the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, declared grandly that Britain, alone in the world, would commit to a…
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