What's New

Priorities and challenges for the HKSAR new administration

Backchat on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on 4 July, 2022. 

Andrew's July 2022 Newsletter

(My quarterly Newsletter goes out to some 8,000 professional contacts worldwide. The following is my July 2022 issue. Back numbers may be accessed under What's New on my website) 

Greetings! 

Amidst a prevailing narrative of wishful-thinking denialism, the world is changing fast. Rightly or wrongly, the Ukraine War has backfired on both sides with serious collateral damage across the globe. Inflation and recession fears are dashing President Biden's mid-term chances in the autumn. US triumphalism stubbornly remains that Putin's end is nigh and China would be next to decline, leading to an enduring "American Century". 

Oblivious to China's quiet, yet impressive resilience on most, if not all, levers of global power, American pride and prejudice refuse to be dented by rising political division at home over guns, abortion, immigration and fossil fuels; nor by waning ability to corral South American states in its backyard, let alone the developing world (set to represent 60% of global GDP by 2030, according to the OCED). 

There is now new-found urgency in rallying American allies to challenge and compete with China on all fronts, not forgetting the Southern Pacific. Having long ignored or dismissed China's Belt and Road Initiative (estimated totaling over a trillion dollars, 68 countries, 65% world population and 40% global GDP), the Biden Administration is now introducing a G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), promising $600 billion in five years. There is also talk of forming a G-12 of democracies. 

On whether America is barking up the wrong tree and the whys and wherefores of rapidly-changing world dynamics, the following may hopefully offer some fresh perspectives.

Ukraine War

How the Ukraine War changes Global Geopolitics (Op-ed in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic)

How the Ukrainian Crisis Impacts on Eurasia Geopolitics and US-China Relations (A PowerPoint presentation) 

The Impact of the Crisis in Ukraine on Global Supply Chains and China’s Economy  (Resume of a report of the Center for China and Globalization) 

How the Ukrainian Crisis Impacts on Eurasia Geopolitics and US-China Relations(A PowerPoint presentation)

The Impact of the Crisis in Ukraine on Global Supply Chains and China’s Economy (Resume of a report of the Center for China and Globalization)

Ukraine: Beyond the fogs of war (Whys and wherefores by US-based non-profit humanistic Postil Magazine)

Poland threatens to impose sanctions on China for buying Russia oil (Pre-recorded TV interview for Russian-language national TV channel Izvestia)

Amid France's Offer, China Strategist Slams Nations Claiming To Give Security Guarantee To Ukraine (Impromptu live radio interview with Republic TV of India)

China

What The Economist omits to address in President Xi's vision of a global security order (Op-ed in Rome-based World Strategic Insights published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic)   

China: Is deepening economic slowdown existential? (Feature article in The Global Analyst of India)

China: In the Eye of a Perfect Global Storm (Feature article in The Global Analyst of India)

Hong Kong

HKSAR braving the elements for a brighter future (Feature article in China Daily in celebration of HKSAR's 25th Anniversary)

10 goals for John Lee’s first 100 days as Hong Kong chief executive (Op-ed in South China Morning Post)   

How Hong Kong chief executive hopeful John Lee can raise the bar if elected  (Op-ed in South China Morning Post) 

John Lee's manifesto for Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive (Backchat on RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong)) 

How HKSAR Chief Executive Elect John Lee could make his first 100 days results-oriented (Backchat on RTHK) 

John Lee's election manifesto - youth development (Backchat on RTHK)

Look back at Carrie Lam’s five year term (Backchat on RTHK)   

Hong Kong's Employment Support Scheme during the pandemics (Backchat on RTHK) 

Taiwan

Why Indo-Pacific Power Hinges on Taiwan (Op-ed in Rome-based World Strategic Insights published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic)

Will China invade Taiwan following Russia's war on Ukraine?  (Op-ed in Rome-based World Strategic Insights published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic)   

President Xi signed order for national military preparedness (Live TV interview with RT) 

US delegation visits Taiwan, provoking China's anger (Pre-recorded TV interview with RT, London)

U.S. warships often sail close to disputed regional waters drawing warnings from China (Live interview with Press TV)

Xinjiang 

Some fresh perspectives on Xinjiang and Tibet (Video expose by two American and Canadian authors and bloggers)

North Korea

"North Korea’s latest tests are a warning against the United States and South Korea" (Live interview with Press TV)   

North Korea has test-fired a new weapons system (Live interview with Press TV) 

North Korea leader says his country could preemptively use nuclear weapons to counter hostile forces (Live interview with Press TV)

United States has failed in its push for tougher UN sanctions on North Korea (Live interview with Press TV) 

Biden suggests 'sincere', 'serious' talks with North Korea during visit to South Korea (Live interview with Press TV)

Iran

Iran wants new currency for Eurasia (Live interview with RT) 

Iran's foreign minister says Afghanistan deserves more attention from the international community - China's perspective (Live TV interview with Press TV) 

Forthcoming conferences

I will be speaking (via Zoom) at the 9th Annual International Conference on Eurasian Politics and Society (IEPAS 2022) to be held at St John University, York, United Kingdom from 13-16 July, 2022 - on "How the Ukrainian Crisis redefines Eurasian Geopolitics in a Changed World".  I will be speaking in person at the 14th MEDays Forum to be held in Tangier, Morocco, from 2 - 5 November, 2022 on the theme of "From  Crisis to Crisis : Towards a New Global Order?" I will be sharing my presentations in my quarterly newsletters in due course.  

Speaking and lecturing opportunities

Following the above conferences, I am planning a month-long sojourn in London before the year-end. During my stay in London, I remain open to invitations or proposals for speaking engagements, visiting lectures or tailor-made electives as a visiting/adjunct professor. 

International investment opportunities

I have accepted the invitation to join the International Advisory Board of Silk Road Partners, an international investment firm. See its corporate profile. If you are interested in getting in touch with us, please give me a shout. 

Consultation services

Please email me at andrewkpleung@gmail.com or text my Hong Kong mobile +852 98198987.  I can also be reached on Skype at andrew.k.p.leung, LinkedIn at andrewleunginternational, Whatsapp at (852) 98198987, WeChat at Andrewkpleung, Facebook at andrewkinpongleung, and Twitter at @Andrewkpleung

Business networking and speaking platform in Hong Kong

As an Advisor to the Denmark-based Executives' Global Network Hong Kong, I welcome your suggestion of a suitable speaker for an EGN event in Hong Kong. This will be entirely at our own cost with acknowledgement of your support, provided that we are not asked to cover any speaking fee, travel or accommodation expenses.

RSS feed and weblinks

My postings are regularly uploaded under my three blogs CHINAwatch, Publications and What is New on www.andrewleunginternationalconsultants.com  A collection of leading China media and research sites can be found under China Links.

Please feel free to save my website on your computer, laptop, tablet, iPhone or iPad as a reference resource. If you wish instant access as soon as my postings appear, just click on “Subscribe to this blog’s feed” under RSS Feed on top of the right-hand column of each blog. Select the appropriate Google feed option. It is free of charge.  

This newsletter is uploaded to my website here. You may save it for reference or reading at leisure. You are free to share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Twitter or other social media devices.

Cheer up and chill out

I have added some more inspirational translations to my repertoire of inspirational music, videos, songs and words.

Courtesies

I look forward to your guidance, advice, comments, suggestions, and criticisms. You may share the above contents with colleagues or friends. You are also welcome to publish any of them with full attribution. 

If you think that I may add value to your endeavors in any way, please let me know how I may help.  If for any reason you do not wish to receive my emails, just ask me to delete your name from my databank permanently. 

Best personal regards, 

Andrew K. P. Leung, SBS, FRSA               
International and Independent China Strategist
www.andrewleunginternationalconsultants.com 

Positions

Chairman and CEO, Andrew Leung International Consultants and Investments Limited

(Founded in London, now re-incorporated in Hong Kong; name changed from Andrew Leung International Consultants Limited as from 10 July, 2017) 

China Futures Fellow, Berkshire Publishing Group, Massachusetts, USA (2011-13)
Brain Trust member, The Evian Group (global think-tank), Lausanne, Switzerland

Gerson Lehrman Group (Global Experts) Council Member
International Expert, Reuters Insight Community of Experts, Thomson Reuters

Senior Analyst, Wikistrat , a cloud-sourced global strategic consultancy based in Washington D.C.

Senior Consultant, MEC International (a UK-based global strategic energy consultancy) 

Distinguished Contributor, Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA) (global think-tank)

Professor of Practice, Hong Kong Institute of Education for Sustainable Development (2018-20)

Certified Sustainable Development Planner, World Institute of Sustainable Development Planners

Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)

Elected Member, Royal Society for Asian Affairs

Think-tank Research Fellow, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai Campus, PRC (14.4.2017-13.4.2020) 

International Advisory Board Member, Silk Road Partners

Download Silk Road Partners - corporate profile 24-06-2022

Advisory Board member, The e-Centre , European Centre for e-Commerce and Internet Law, Vienna 

Honorary Adviser, International Institute of Management (IIM) 

Advisory Board member, The Global Analyst, India

Honorary President, China Hong Kong Economic and Trading International Association (from 28 March, 2016) 

Global Commercial Agent, Changsha City, China

Hong Kong Advisory Board member, Denmark-based Executive Global Network (EGN)

Visiting Professor, London Metropolitan University Business School 

Governing Council Member, King’s College London, UK (2004-2010)
Advisory Board member, China Policy Institute, Nottingham University, UK (2005 -2010)

Visiting Professor, Sun Yat-sen University Business School, China (2005-10)
Founding Chairman, China Group, Institute of Directors City Branch, London, UK (2006-2010)
Vice Chairman, 48 Group Club, UK (2008-2010)
Committee Member of RSA, London Region, UK (2006-2010)
Included in UK's Who's Who since 2002
Awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star (SBS) in the July 2005 Hong Kong Honours List    

Look back at Carrie Lam’s five year term

Backchat on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on 13 June, 2022 (My intervention starts from 01:08) 

Iran wants new currency for Eurasia

Live TV discussion with RT on 8 June, 2022

"North Korea’s latest tests are a warning against the United States and South Korea"

Live TV discussion on 5 June, 2022 with Press TV.

How the Ukraine war is likely to play out in global geopolitics

At the start of the War on Ukraine, President Putin initially seemed to be losing his grip. Massive losses of armors and combatants were incurred with little territorial or other strategic gains.  As a result, there was a prevailing sense of triumphalism in Washington and the US-led NATO coalition that Putin's "adventurism" has spectacularly backfired. 

The Western commentariat has been busy speculating on a looming ignominious Russian defeat, the emergence of a more unified Ukraine, a more united Europe and NATO rallying behind America's global anti-Russia leadership, a probable collapse of Putin's regime, and even his eventual consignment to a health sanitorium. 

For good measure, America's China strategists were quietly rubbing their hands that finally the United States would now be placed in a much better geopolitical position to concentrate on subjugating China, the “most serious long-term challenge to the international order”. "China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it", according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken's China policy address at George Washington University on 26 May, 2022, his velvet-glove rhetoric of not wanting a Cold War against China notwithstanding. Some quarters in America's intelligentsia are even cheerleading for an enduring American Century. 

However, according to Ukraine President Zelensky, Russia has now controlled some 20% of Ukraine. This is seen as President Putin's "Plan B" focusing instead on occupying the Donbas region with a possible land bridge linking Russia-occupied Crimea. He has reaffirmed that Russia will not let up until all his goals are reached, banking on a prolonged war of attrition with Ukraine and its Western backers.  

Europe has been bearing the brunt of energy and food shortages with resultant price hikes, inflationary pressures and prolonged economic recession fears. Now over 100 days into the War, a sense of "Ukraine fatigue" in the West coalition is beginning to set in, according to Edward Luce of the Financial Times.

Gazprom has cut off at least 20 billion cubic meters of its annual gas supplies to customers in six European countries —Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, because they failed to make payments in rubles, a retaliatory demand President Vladimir Putin made back in March. This amounts to nearly 13% of the European Union's total annual gas imports from Russia.

While some of the European countries are wriggling out of these strictures by converting their Euro payment into Russian currency at Putin's designated Russian bank, replacing Russia's readily-available piped gas-supply through maritime oil or gas imports from the Middle East or America is unlikely to be a smooth logistical and economic solution.

Even as Europe is stocking up energy supplies in preparation for the coming winter, such precautions are unlikely to be adequate for households, let alone impact on Europe's economic activities. 

Additionally, Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, accounting for more than 18% of international exports. In 2019, Russia and Ukraine together exported 25.4% of the world’s wheat, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).

In addition, Russia exports nearly 20% of the world’s nitrogen fertilizers and, combined with its sanctioned neighbor Belarus, 40% of the world’s exported potassium. Most of these commodities are now off limits to the world’s farmers, thanks to Western sanctions and Russia’s recent fertilizer export restrictions. That's why the Chairman of the African Union, Senegal's President Macky Sall, called on President Putin on 3 June to ask for help freeing up Ukrainian grain exports. 

Meanwhile, energy and agricultural price hikes worldwide are boosting Russian coffers, strengthening instead of weakening the ruble.

After branding Saudi Arabia as a "pariah state" over the murder of journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, President Biden's planned goodwill visit to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is unlikely to yield adequate results, given Saudi Arabia's long-established prudent oil production and pricing policies. Moreover, windfall energy price hikes are a bonanza to the Saudis and other major oil producers in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, President Biden's domestic ratings are back in the doldrums, raising the odds of  losing Congress at mid-term elections in the autumn. Biden risks  becoming a "lame-duck" President for the remainder of his term. 

Nevertheless, the United States seems turbo-charged to segregate the world into two camps, framing this a contest of the century between democracy and authoritarianism.

However, notwithstanding draconian across-the-board sanctions and other restrictions, according to Wang Huiyao, founder and president of Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing, in 2021, "global trade hit a record $28.5 trillion, up 25% year-on-year and 13% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic struck. For all the talk of decoupling, U.S.-China trade swelled more than 20% last year, to $687.2 billion. Even with war in Ukraine, global trade is forecast to grow in 2022, albeit at a slower pace". "Cross-border investment also surpassed pre-pandemic levels last year, swelling to $1.65 trillion. China, in particular, is more integrated into the global economy than ever. In 2021, its foreign direct investment inflows rose by a third to an all-time high of $334 billion. In the first quarter of this year, they grew by more than 25% year-on-year". Click here "Globalization isn’t dead, It’s just not American anymore", Wang quipped. 

This shows how robust China's centrality remains in the world's inter-connected supply and value chains. After all, China remains the largest trading partner for 130 nations worldwide, compared with 57 for the United States. This centrality is being cemented by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This consists of ASEAN and its main trading partners including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, representing a third of the world's population and a third of the world's GDP. China is at the trading and logistical heart of it all. 

Beijing is doubling down on its global footprint. Witness the latest round of island-hoping in the South Pacific, signing a number of cooperation and law enforcement deals. 

This represents a further extension of China's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), now being reformed to address concerns about debt-sustainability, transparency, corporate governance and environmental sustainability. The BRI already covers land and sea in Asia, Africa, Eurasia and Europe. Added to this is a "Polar Silk Road" capitalizing on the now more navigable, much shorter Artic Circle route linking the Pacific with the Atlantic, thanks to Climate Change, and a "Digital Silk Road" linking businesses across the globe including undersea fiber-optic telecommunication cables. 

A key strategic consideration of the BRI is to neutralize the threats posed by transit choke points such as Singapore's Malacca Strait controlled by America's Seventh Fleet. Energy and international trade, China's economic life-blood, can now transit overland, for example, through China-friendly countries in Eurasia, the Middle East, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)., including the port of Gwadar. 

Save bipartisan unanimity to confront China, the United States remains a politically deeply-divided country, undermining its overarching geographical, natural resources, technological, cultural, financial and military dominance. It is now engaged on war on two fronts, against both Russia, the world's largest landmass, and China, the world's second largest economy, soon to become the world's largest. It is struggling with how best to keep using its "exorbitant privilege" of money-printing to prop up its economy without undermining global trust in the greenback. 

Meanwhile, China is pushing ahead with completing its own single-handedly-built Space Station by the end of this year. This will eventually replace the US-led 21-year old International Space Station (ISS), whose useful life has been repeatedly extended to 2031. The ISS has been excluding China right from the start. 

This speaks volumes about China's technological capabilities, along with its head start in certain domains of 5G, Big Data, and Internet of Things (IoT), technologies set to change lives and how businesses are conducted in a "Fourth Industrial Revolution" of the 21st century. China already dominates the world in e-payment systems. It is fast developing a digital sovereign currency (digital yuan), which is set to challenge the dollar's hegemony on multiple fronts,considering China's status as the world's largest trader, manufacturer and logistical hub. 

In addition, China is also achieving a breakthrough in nuclear fusion, a source of endless, sustainable energy, according to the South China Morning Post of 11 November, 2021. This is supported by China's leading positions in solar, wind, hydro energy capacities and as the world-largest electric vehicle production and market. Additionally, the country seems on track to realize its Paris Agreement pledge of "carbon peak" by 2030 and "carbon neutrality" by 2060. 

China has launched the world's fastest programmable quantum computers, a million times more powerful than its nearest competitor, Google’s Sycamore, according to a report of 26 October 2021 in the South China Morning Post. 

According to a research paper dated August 2021 of George Town University, by 2025 Chinese universities will produce more than 77,000 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) PhD graduates per year compared to approximately 40,000 in the United States. If international students are excluded from the U.S. count, Chinese STEM PhD graduates would outnumber their U.S. counterparts more than three-to-one. 

Militarily, China is also catching up by leaps and bounds. China's navy has already become the world's largest in numbers. It is about to launch a third state-of-the art aircraft carrier. Apart from its Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) medium-range high-precision aircraft-killer missiles, according to a report of 18 December 2019, The New Missile Gap in The National Interest,  Dan Goure, Ph.D., vice president at the Lexington Institute, a public-policy research think-tank, opines that America is losing to Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons. This includes China's "Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS)" that can circumnavigate the globe in all directions before striking targets with guided, hypersonic, multiple warheads, neutralizing extant missile defense systems. 

Some critical technological bottlenecks remains, such as high-end micro semiconductor chips (smaller than 10 nanometers).  However, to assume that China would for long be crippled technologically underestimates the nation's technological resilience. 

Along with robotics and digitization, a three-child policy with measures to support child births, China is grappling with its worsening demographics with increased productivity through nationwide high-speed transport connectivity.  

Long the talk of the town, China's high-speed rail network accounts for two-thirds of the global total. This will be nearly doubled to 70,000 km over the next 15 years. The will link up all cities over half a million people, while an additional 200,000 km of modern railway would connect all towns of 200,000 people and above. Even the remotest  parts of the country are to be connected. This would hasten China's urbanization rate from 60.6% in 2019 to 65%, doubling China's consumer middle class to 800 million by 2035. Various city clusters are formed, capitalizing on their mutual transport connectivity. All these will boost overall productivity. 

To address widening socio-economic inequality, China is adopting a strategy for "common prosperity", targeting monopolistic or predatory behavior of the nation's biggest and wealthiest conglomerates. This is part of President Xi's strategy to build "China 3.0", creating a fairer, healthier, stronger and ecologically more sustainable nation in fulfilment of the "China Dream". China's miraculous economic transformation in recent decades explains the Chinese people's overwhelming support of China's Communist Party (CCP), (over 90%), multiple ranks above many countries including the United States, according to recent Harvard Kennedy School findings. 

As pointed out by Kishore Mahbubani, a world-renowned Singaporean academic, diplomat and geopolitical consultant in his book Has China Won? (Pubic Affairs, New York, 2020), while America's bottom half have seen their incomes stagnate over the past thirty years, China's bottom half have the best lives ever, for the past 4,000 years! A resounding answer to the West's continuing aspersions about the CCP's legitimacy.

When the Ukraine war eventually comes to an end, a weakened and ostracized Russia and a devastated, partitioned Ukraine are likely to ensue, along with an extended NATO encompassing Finland and Sweden. A more nervous yet resilient Russia surrounded by enemies at the gates is likely to double down on friendship with China "without limits", both countries being arch enemies of the United States.

In particular, Russia would rely on China as its largest customer for its energy and agricultural products, the latter production likely to expand thanks to global warming. China's trade and investments are likely to replace Russia's domestic markets vacated by Western enterprises and brands. As a gateway to the rest of Europe, Ukraine is also likely to resume having China as its largest customer of its wheat and other commodities, capitalizing on the BRI's deep wallets. .

Wary of the perceived "China Threat" to values and security, the European Union is unlikely to return to its former coziness with China. While relying on America's leadership and NATO's combined military might to deter an embittered Russia, leading countries like Germany, France, Italy and Spain are likely to foster growing European capabilities, including the military, to conduct the EU's own independent affairs of state.

Europe's overall attitude towards China, therefore, may not be on all fours with that of the United States. On the one hand, it would erect firewalls and safeguards against perceived threats, on the other hand, it is likely to capitalize on the EU's excellent institutions and unique traditions to foster a more constructive relationship with a more powerful China pivoting more to Europe and Eurasia in preference to a hostile United States. This is likely to translate into more EU-China trade, investments, research, and people-to-people exchanges, to say the least. 

All told, the War in Ukraine promises to be a global game-changer. It exposes Russia's and Ukraine's vulnerabilities as well as resilience. It is ushering global dynamics more in tune with China's quest for its China Dream of national renaissance than with the United States' hope of not having to share power ever with a vast country of diametrically different civilization, culture, race and ideology. It would also beg the question whether the United States' current hard-wired anti-China mindset and policies needs some major modification. 

 

United States has failed in its push for tougher UN sanctions on North Korea

Live TV discussion on 27 May, 2022 with Press TV. 

Biden suggests 'sincere', 'serious' talks with North Korea during visit to South Korea

Live TV discussion dated 22 May, 2022 on Press TV. 

How HKSAR Chief Executive Elect John Lee could make his first 100 days results-oriented

Hong Kong Today news program on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) on 10 May, 2022 (The relevant segment starts from time-counter 34:40) 

North Korea leader says his country could preemptively use nuclear weapons to counter hostile forces

Live interview of 1 May, 2022 with Press TV.