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Hong Kong plays key role in national development

Exclusive interview on RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) aired on 30 September 2024.

Andrew's October 2024 Newsletter

(My quarterly Newsletters go out to some 8,000 professional contacts worldwide. The following is my October 2024 issue. Back numbers may be accessed under What is New on my website.)

Greetings! I hope you have had a rewarding and enjoyable summer! 

Barring uncertain outcome of the U.S. Election, American foreign policy continues to be dictated by chauvinistic hubris and political correctness borne of decades of American primacy and exceptionalism. This translates into an obsession with shaping the world in America's own image and bending countries to suit American interests, at the expense of balkanizing the world into divided camps. China, America's perceived primary "challenger", remains the elephant in the room.  

The jury is still out on how best the United States should respond to an overhyped "existential threat" from China, how it could realize sustainable peace in the Middle East, and what role it should play to resolve the bloody Russia-Ukraine connundrum for a more peaceful Europe. 

Serial U.S. proactive actions or measures, whether sanctions or shuttle diplomacy, seem to be running around in circles, talking past opposite numbers, if not tilting at windmills, while humanitarian crises deepen in war zones and disruptions continue to degrade livelihoods across the globe.

Absent cool-headed analysis of viable and sustainable endgames, confrontation hardly equates to credible strategy. Apart from the scale and dimension of China's rise including the best support of its people, we now live in a very different and closely-connected world, driven by the digital Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions, rampant pandemics, and  multifacted impacts of quickening Climate Change.

The following may hopefully offer some different perspectives, if not practical insights for making the world a better place. 

Great Power Rivalry
To avert Thucydides Trap, US should compete with China in Olympic spirit  (Op-ed in China Daily). Sanitized and abridged versions in Chinese can be accessed here and here.
U.S. and China: Edging Toward the Brink?  (An Aspen Institute discussion by eminent international experts) 
The Arctic Silk Road (TV panel discussion on TRT World)
Malaysia's bid to join Brics - implications (Backchat on RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) 

China-Africa
China-Africa Summit 2024 - Implications (Backchat on RTHK)

China's development
Gradual increase of Mainland China's retirement age - Implication (BachChat on RTHK)
China's Third Plenum 2024 - Behind the jargons and the rhetoric  (Full-length feature article in The Global Analyst) 
"China needs more than hikes in Total Factor Productivity to realize its 2035 ambition" (An in-depth analysis) 
How to read China correctly in the coming Third Plenum (An in-depth analyis)

China's auto industry
A CSIS podcast (An in-depth discussion by American experts)

Hong Kong
Enacting HKETO Certification Act will sacrifice Washington’s own interests (Op-ed in China Daily) 
Hong Kong Editors Convicted of Sedition in "Blow to Press Freedom" (Live TV interview on Aljazeera English Channel) 

Climate Change
Fast fashion typified by SHEIN invokes ecological backlash  (TV panel discussionn on TRT World)

UK
2024 UK election result - implications (Backchat on RTHK) 

Cheer Up and Chill Out

A 10-point Multimedia Outlook on Life  (Music video)
Inspirational videos and excerpts for life's down-moments

International investment opportunities
I am on the International Advisory Board of Silk Road Partners, an international investment firm. Mr Yves Leterme, ex-Prime Minister of Belgium (November 2009 to December 2011) has joined the firm as Senior Partner. If you are interested in getting in touch with us, please give me a shout.

Consultation services
Please email me at [email protected] or text my Hong Kong mobile +852 98198987. I can also be reached on Skype at andrew.k.p.leung, LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/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 posts are regularly uploaded under my three blogs CHINAwatch, Publications and What's New .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.

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 data bank permanently.

Best personal regards,

Andrew K. P. Leung, SBS, FRSA  
International and Independent China Strategist
Andrew Leung International Consultants and Investments Company Limited

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 Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. 

Download Wikistrat Excellence Award

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)  

Download Certificate of Appointment as Professor of Practice

Certified Sustainable Development Planner, World Institute of Sustainable Development Planners

Download Certificate of Recognition as Certified Sustainable Development Planner

Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
Elected Member, Royal Society for Asian Affairs

Contributing author, Politics Today

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 

Download Silk Road Partners 2023

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) 

Download 中國香港國際經貿合作協會簡介和組織架構 (28.03.2023)  

Download A brief introduction to the China-Hong Kong Economic and Trading International Association

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 

Fast fashion typified by SHEIN invokes ecological backlash

TV panel discussion on RoundTable with TRT World on 23 August 2024

Malaysia's bid to join Brics - implications

Backchat on RTHK (Radio Televsion Hong Kong) on 21 June 2024

Andrew's July 2024 Newsletter

(My quarterly Newsletters go out to some 8,000 professional contacts worldwide. The following is my July 2024 issue. Back numbers may be accessed under What is New on my website.)

Greetings! May I first wish you and family a most prosperous and rewarding summer!

Electoral dynamics are mutating in many countries, not least the United States, the United Kingdom and France, tilting towards right-wing nationalism, xenophobia, and isolationism. These are now mixed with momentous repercussions to the global order with intensifying Great Power rivalry, a protracted Ukraine War, and a catastrophic Israel-Hamas conflict. These challenges, perhaps "not seen for a hundred years", are taxing countries' ability to transcend short-termism and self-denial. 

Meanwhile, the digital, technological, and borderless Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions are transforming how people live and work, how businesses are conducted, how deep reaches on the planet and outer space may be explored, how wars are fought, and how nations interact and defend themselves. Concurrently, common challenges of Climate Change, mutating pandemics and nuclear proliferation are pushing nations closer together. 

Hopefully the following may offer some useful perspectives. 

World Order
With 3 wars and Taiwan, global inflection points are looming (Op-ed in the South China Morning Post)
China’s Alternative Order, and What America should Learn from It (Op-ed in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights)  Also published in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic  Related commentary on Foreign Affairs think-piece
The United States, China, and the Future of the Global Order  (An Asia Society New York panel discussion)
Where Global Governance Went Wrong—and How to Fix It   (Commentary on Foreign Policy think-piece)
Ode to Peace (Song by Zhou Shen at the United Nations Chinese Language Day in New York )

International relations
How the US Keeps Fighting China, Knowing It Won’t Win? (Op-ed in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights) Also published in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. A related in-depth analysis
Nobody Is Competing With the U.S. to Begin With (Commentary on Foreign Policy think-piece)
Anti-China Cold War, TikTok, Ukraine, Gaza - video interviews with Izvestia (Recorded interview with Izvestia of Russia) 
People-to-people exchanges would keep China-US relations in balance (Op-ed in China Daily)
Premiere Li Qiang's 3-party talks in Seoul with Japan and South Korea (Live exclusive TV interview with TRT World)
Xi Jinping's Europe visit implications (Backchat with RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) 
What does President Xi's visit to Europe signify?  (Recorded TV interview with NTV of Russia)
US Secretary of State Blinken to visit China  (Exclusive TV interview with NDTV of India) 
Majority in Southeast Asia would choose China over US, survey suggests (Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute report) 

China
China has become a scientific superpower (Leader in The Economist) 
An era of great misunderstanding of China (Op-ed in India-based Mero Tribune) 
China’s Defense of Its Human Rights Policies (Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs)

China's economy
Challenges and Prospects of the Chinese Economy (Exclusive in-depth video interview with Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights) 
China Is Still Rising - Don’t Underestimate the World’s Second-Biggest Economy (Commentary on Foreign Affairs think-piece) 
China: Keeping the dragon awake (Allianz Research) 

The dollar
Report of the dollar's imminent demise is over-exaggerated (A succinct in-depth analysis)

Climate Change
Xi Thinks China Can Slow Climate Change. What if He’s Right?  (Commentary on New York Times Guest Essay)

Hong Kong
Hong Kong convicts 14 activists of subversion (Exclusive recorded interview on BBC Newshour) 
Hong Kong government spending - how to make more with less (Backchat with RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong)

Cheer Up and Chill Out

A 10-point Multimedia Outlook on Life  (Music video)
Inspirational videos and excerpts for life's down-moments

Forthcoming summer sojourn in London
I will be staying in London from the beginning of July through early September. I am open to any invitation to speak or get together in London or in the vicinity. 

International investment opportunities
I am on the International Advisory Board of Silk Road Partners, an international investment firm. Mr Yves Leterme, ex-Prime Minister of Belgium (November 2009 to December 2011) has joined the firm as Senior Partner. If you are interested in getting in touch with us, please give me a shout.

Consultation services
Please email me at [email protected] or text my Hong Kong mobile +852 98198987. I can also be reached on Skype at andrew.k.p.leung, LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/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 posts are regularly uploaded under my three blogs CHINAwatch, Publications and What's New .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.

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 data bank permanently.

Best personal regards,

Andrew K. P. Leung, SBS, FRSA  
International and Independent China Strategist
Andrew Leung International Consultants and Investments Company Limited

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 Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. 

Download Wikistrat Excellence Award

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)  

Download Certificate of Appointment as Professor of Practice

Certified Sustainable Development Planner, World Institute of Sustainable Development Planners

Download Certificate of Recognition as Certified Sustainable Development Planner

Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
Elected Member, Royal Society for Asian Affairs

Contributing author, Politics Today

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 

Download Silk Road Partners 2023

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) 

Download 中國香港國際經貿合作協會簡介和組織架構 (28.03.2023)  

Download A brief introduction to the China-Hong Kong Economic and Trading International Association

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 

Report of the dollar's imminent demise is over-exaggerated

There is much trumpet about Saudi Arabia's rumoured non-renewal in June of a supposed US-Saudi 50-year contract whereby Saudi Arabia, by far the world's largest oil producer, had agreed to settle all its oil sales in U.S. dollars. The presumed demise of the so-called "petrodollar era" has proven to be fake news. 

Admittedly, with the greenback's long-arm weaponisation, more countries are trying to hedge against over-dependence on the dollar, including alternative payment systems and payment in other currencies, especially for bilateral trade. Also, America's "exorbitant privilege" of limitless money printing continues to push US debt payment to dangerous levels. However, the end days of the dollar are still very far off.

The dollar's pre-eminence remains deeply-embedded in global trade, investments, as a reserve currency and as a hedge against global instabilities. No other alternate systems, including sovereign-backed digital currencies, are sufficiently developed to pose a credible threat to the mighty greenback. 

Why the Dominance of America’s Currency Is Harder Than Ever to Overturn is expounded in a timley piece Top Dolalr of June 18 in Foreign Affairs by Eswar Prasad,  Senior Professor of Trade Policy in the Dyson School at Cornell University, and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. 

It's evident that report of the dollar's early demise is much over-exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain. 

Nobody Is Competing With the U.S. to Begin With

In an insightful Foreign Policy article of 1 May, Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Washington-DC-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, makes an exceptional stance that the United States is overhyping the contest for global supremacy with Russia and China. 

Both Russia and China do not have the capacities (or demontrable intentions) to rival America's global hegemony. Witness America's extensive global military presence, with 4,790 U.S. military sites worldwide, including 375,000 military personnel in 66 defense locations in the Indo-Pacific. Reminiscent of Michael Beckley's Unrivalled: Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower (2018), Lieven believes that America's primacy remains unseated. 

Howecver, Lieven recants a fundamental rule of geopolitics and of war: that all real power is in the end local and relative. Witness, for example, America's disastrously futile wars over Iraq and Afghanistan. To a much greater extent, Russia and China are far more able to guard their core strategic interests jealously, undeterred by maximum U.S. coercion, risking a full-blown war. 

Lieven argues that the United States with NATO is logistically unlikely to be able to entirely drive back Russia from Ukraine, a core Russian strategic interest. Hence the responsible strategy forward is to seek a sustainable peace over Ukraine by restraininbg NATO's eastward expansion.

Nor, according to Lieven, should the United States provoke a war with China over Taiwan: 

"Taiwan should not be surrendered, but China should be repeatedly and publicly assured of U.S. adherence to the “One China” policy. Every provocative U.S. statement or action that calls this into question should be strenuously avoided.

Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea should not be recognized, but it should also not be challenged—just as the United States does not recognize but also does not challenge Indian sovereignty over most of Kashmir, for example. Washington could also demonstrate goodwill and a desire for a reasonable compromise over the dispute over these islands between China and the Philippines by proposing solutions such as joint Sino-Filipino sovereignty."

It is to be seen how much of Lieven's take would be bought by the White House with America's powerful geostrategic elites. The U.S.bipartisan default position remains maximum pushback against both Russia and China on all fronts, save for some guardrails, regardless of the boiling Gaza War calling America's global leadership into question. 

Where Global Governance Went Wrong—and How to Fix It

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at Columbia University, wrote the above think-piece in Foreign Policy on 28 April.

Echoing his earlier seminal works Globalization and Its Discontents (2003) and Making Globalization Work (2007), Stiglitz laments the worsening breakdown of equitable governance, both nationally and globally.

Much-touted neo-liberalism has not succeeded to lift all boats within most nations and globally. Unbridled "free economy" often serves to give "total liberty to the wolves and death to the lambs".

He cites examples including the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the Covid "vaccine apartheid" prizing Big Pharma fortunes over millions of lives in poor countries, and massive subsidies to enterprises under the "CHIPS and Science Act", begging questions of "free market" double standards. 

Globally, the Global South is being marginalized for lack of a fair "world government" enforcing the so-called "rule-based world order", reminiscent of famed Greek philosopher Thucydides' quote "The strong do what they can. The weak suffer what they must."

To win hearts and minds in a "new Cold War" agaisnt China, Stiglitz suggests that the United States should "abandon the corporate-driven rules-based system and work instead to create a set of at least basic rules that would reflect common interests."

The "corporate-driven system" is shorthand for the deeply-entrenched "military-industrial-financial-techological-media"complex that has long taken root since former US President Eisehower's parting shot in1961. See New Yorker famed investigative journalist and author Jane Mayer's bestseller Dark Mioney (2017). The hard-wired elite "corporate-driven" DNA is unlikely to change anytime soon.  

Unless the United States and other countries start to embrace a more equitable "alternative world order" including reform of the United Nations Security Council, the law of the jungle in geopolitics, albeit subtly nuanced or camouflaged, is likely to continue, at a time when America can no long call all the shots.            

Andrew's April 2024 Newsletter

(My quarterly Newsletters go out to some 8,000 professional contacts worldwide. The following is my April 2024 issue. Back numbers may be accessed under What is New on my website.)

Greetings! May I first wish you a forthcoming glorious summer! 

The world is at a rare inflexion point.  As many as 64 countries plus the European Union are having leadership elections this year, covering half of the world population and including those, like the U.S. and EU, of global consequence.

The U.S. is finding both feet stuck in deep mud over Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict with humunitarian disasters of biblical proportions.  The EU is struggling to cope with both a much-weakened economy and the looming prospects of an unpredictable second Trump-adminstration.

China has re-emerged from the economic ravages of a historically severe pandemic. It is beginning to,find its feet in a world economy transformed by the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions of borderless digitital connectivity. Howewver, the US-let Western camp is doubling down on anti-China "de-risking" or decoupling, friendly rhetoric and diplomatic overtures notwithstanding.  

Amidst the smoke and mirrors of this uncertain year, the following may hopefully offer some fresh food for thought. 

Hong Kong
Article 23 legislation: Debunking fearmongering myths (Op-ed in China Daily) 
Explaining Hong Kong's enactment of Article 23 on national security (Live TV interview on Aljazeera English Channel)
Hong Kong passes its own version of national security law - Article 23 (Live TV interview on CNA, a Singapore-based transmedia channel)_  
Speculation about the SAR’s impending demise is overexaggerated (Op-ed in China Daily) 
Financial Secretary Paul Chan's attendance of the Davos 2024 World Economic Forum (Backchat on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK))
Xia Baolong's Hong Kong visit (Backchat on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK))

United States 
Why the United States is losing the plot over Ukraine and Gaza (An in-depth analysis) 
The U.S. Double Standard that Weakens its Global Leadership (Op-ed in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights, republished in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. An earlier, shorter version, Gaza, Ukraine, TikTok: US double standards are eroding its global power appeared in the South China Morning Post.)

China
Beijing is debunking ‘China threat’ myth through trade and cooperation (Op-ed in the South China Morning Post) Republished in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights with attribiution in in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. An abridged version appeared in the bottom front pages of the China Daily Global Editon (1) (2))
"Two Sessions" Beijing meeting - debunking some myths about China's economy (Backchat on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK))

Taiwan
Why Beijing needs to Sweeten the Carrot to Entice Taiwan’s People Towards Peaceful Unification (Op-ed in Rome-based World Geostrategic Insights, republished in French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.  An earlier, shorter version How Beijing can make reunification more appealing for Taiwanese appeared in the South China Morning Post with its prinited version entitled Outside the Box. 
What Taiwan’s election outcome means for China, US and the world (A report by the Anadulo Agency in Ankara, Turkey)
Ruling party candidate Lai Ching-te emerges victorious in Taiwan's election - implications (Exclusive live interview on TRT World) 

Israel-Hamas Conflict
China's mediating role in the Israel-Hamas conflict (An in-depth analysis) 
Gaza crie de ceour at the Academy Award 2024 (Video clip) 

Ukraine, Russia
Why Beijing insists on Russia's inclusion in any peace talks on Ukraine; why Biden suddenly offers an olive branch over nuclear armament talks with Russia and China (Exclusive recorded TV interview (in English) with MIC Izvestia, the largest Russian-language multi-media channel based in Moscow) 

TikTok
US TikTok ban a double-standard excuse to appropriate a valuable Chinese asset (Recorded interview (in English) with Russian-language CBC TV Azerbijan)

Climate Change
Climate action: how China is accelerating the drive towards a net zero world (Op-ed in the South China Morming Post) See a a coincidedntal Time Magazine piece How 2024 Will Be a Watershed Climate Moment for China 

India
"China Knows India Isn't Weak" (Live TV panel discussion on NDTV)

World
2024: Year of Living Dangerously (A PowerPoint presentation) 
Megatrends To 2050: Geopolitical Fragmentation To Accelerate, Raising Global Risks  (Forecast by BMI, a FitchSolutions Company) .  

Cheer Up and Chill Out

A 10-point Multimedia Outlook on Life  (Music video)
Inspirational videos and excerpts for life's down-moments

Forhcoming summer sojourn in London
I will be staying in London from beginning of July through early September. I am open to any invitation to speak or get together in London or in the vincinity. 

International investment opportunities
I am on the International Advisory Board of Silk Road Partners, an international investment firm. Mr Yves Leterme, ex-Prime Minister of Belgium (November 2009 to December 2011) has joined the same Board. If you are interested in getting in touch with us, please give me a shout.

Consultation services
Please email me at [email protected] or text my Hong Kong mobile +852 98198987.I can also be reached on Skype at andrew.k.p.leung, LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/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 posts are regularly uploaded under my three blogs CHINAwatch, Publications and What's New .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.

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 data bank permanently.

Best personal regards,

Andrew K. P. Leung, SBS, FRSA  
International and Independent China Strategist
Andrew Leung International Consultants and Investments Company Limited

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 Tel Aviv and Washington D.C. 

Download Wikistrat Excellence Award

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)  

Download Certificate of Appointment as Professor of Practice

Certified Sustainable Development Planner, World Institute of Sustainable Development Planners

Download Certificate of Recognition as Certified Sustainable Development Planner

Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
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Why the United States is losing the plot over Ukraine and Gaza

John Mearsheimer, father of "Offensive Realism", elucidated the above topic at the Australian Center for Independent Studies on 15 March. He spoke with great clarity on how the US has unwittingly become mired on both feet in Ukraine and the Israeili-Hamas wars, unable to concentrate on China as its acknowledged greatest rivalry for global power. 

Mearsheimer also highlighted the American folly of pushing Russia into China's embrace, (not forgetting Iran). This was the deadly "anti-hegemonic alliance" forewarned by the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, a doyen of American foreign policy, in his much-acclaimed 1998 tome The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives (page 55).

To this anti-hegemonic alliance must now be added North Korea, and indeed, many countries in the Global South, growing disillusioned with "America-First" hegemony. 

However, the dilemma remains that the U.S. cannot wash its hands off Ukraine and/or Gaza without undermining its global power, adding to the perception of China getting a one up in the great power rivalry. 

To Mearsheimer's call for US strategic focus, let's not forget a host of other "global threats" summarized by the US Director of National Intelligence in his Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community of 5 Febuary 2024. The report addresses in great depth a host of perceived threats faced by the United States, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Ukraine, Gaza, Disruptive Technologies, "Digital Authoritarianism", Weapons of Mass Destruction, Climate Change, Health Security, Migration, as well as Non-State Threats including Transnational Crime, Human Trafficking, Terrorism, and Private Military and Security Companies.