Conversation on Jiang Zemin I had the honour to be a contributor to the Conversation on Jiang Zemin organized by ChinaFile and the Foreign Policy Magazine. Thrilled to be among such distinguished company! Here’s the link. https://www.chinafile.com/conversation/jiang-zemin-1926-2022

Last weekend, protests broke out in multiple cities across China against excessive lockdown measures. I’ve been busy writing and commenting on this extraordinary development. Since 1989, there have been plenty of protests, typically farmers demanding proper compensation over grabbed land; workers demanding better pay. Occasionally there were protests against environmental issues. Such protests tend to… Continue reading commenting on Covid protests in China

“Rise up, rise up, those don’t want to be slaves!” Many of you are aware that anti-Covid/government protests have broken out in many cities in China. It is remarkable and extraordinary in an authoritarian country where public protests are banned. Here’s my interview with NPR’s Morning Edition, the equivalent of BBC’s Today program. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/28/1139388758/protests-which-are-outlawed-in-china-gain-attention-and-participants

Long ago, I fantasized to become a public intellectual but I was dragged out of school at 16. Having long given up that dream, I still care about the public intellectuals and I am deeply concerned about their shrinking role in China. Here’s why. https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3199681/shrinking-role-chinas-public-intellectuals-will-hold-back-countrys-rise

Return To Dust What a joy to watch a decent Chinese film, a rare joy! Time and again, I am disappointed in one Chinese film and then another. But not this one. Return to Dust is not one of those. It is a gem, a beauty and it is quietly powerful. It is a heartbreaking… Continue reading Movie Return to Dust

I had an interview with Chartist, Labour Party’s magazine – well, George Orwell used to write for the publication. It is about China’s rise and what should the West do. This is the first time I have been described as a ‘leading activist’. Interesting! https://www.chartist.org.uk/dont-overreact-to-china/

I had a busy day yesterday. At 2 pm, I had an interview with the BBC at the Broadcasting House in central London about the Party Congress, then I rushed back for Chicago Council on Global Affair’s Weekly World Review panel discussion and podcast, scheduled at 4 pm. But the taxi from the BBC’s broadcasting… Continue reading Party congress interviews

Has China’s handling of Covid-19 increased the government’s popularity or decreased it? I find the question fascinating and confusing. Here’s my commentary piece exploring the theme, using the idea of social contract. Yesterday I wrote to my oped editor, asking to add the protests reported in Lhasa, Xingjiang and Zhengzhou, but the piece had just… Continue reading My opinion piece on zero-Covid and citizens support for the government

Once again, I found myself marching in central London. This time, it was for ‘rejoining EU’. I took part in all the major anti-Brexit marches before. Today’s was the first major one since 2019. Tens of thousands people turned up. In the warm sunshine, protesters sang, danced and chanted, while holding flags or placards bearing… Continue reading Re-joining EU march

活到老，学到老，never too cold to learn, goes the Chinese saying. This summer, I took a six-week intensive course to study international relations titled China, Russia, the US and the Future of Geopolitics, run by the Economist. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a monumental event that has shaken the old world order, inspired my interest in geopolitics. I… Continue reading a course in geopolitics