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Tim Collard
Tim Collard spent 20 years in the British diplomatic service, half of them in Beijing and Hong Kong. He is now retired and works as a freelance academic and journalist on China-related issues, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and the Philippines.
To peacefully coexist with its neighbours in Southeast Asia, China should not browbeat them into submission, even if it is in a position to do so. Snubbing the Philippine president’s friendly overtures would send the wrong message.
A post-Brexit Britain needs trade deals, including with the likes of China. So why is it provoking Beijing by saying it will send an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea? These are signs of a government that has lost its way.
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The National People's Congress Standing Committee decision on the modus for election of the chief executive in 2017 was well prepared. In many ways, the government's case was understandable: it should have been obvious that nobody would be able to run in 2017 as the "anti-Beijing" candidate.
Matters regarding the establishment of universal suffrage in Hong Kong in 2017 have come to a head rather sooner than most expected. Was it wise for Occupy Central and its allies to raise the stakes so high so early?
We could be approaching the end of an era. After 1945, the United Nations was set up with the intention of making war impossible by providing the world with a universally acknowledged dispute resolution mechanism.
China cancelled the April 16 session of the bilateral human rights dialogue with Britain, accusing the UK of making irresponsible comments and of interference in its internal affairs.
What are we to make of the mixed signals given by President Xi Jinping's leadership team on official corruption, and the enrichment of officials and their family, either directly at the state's expense or by extortion from business and the public?
The current contretemps over Ukraine and Crimea has brought Chinese strategic foreign policy to an unforeseen crossroads. China has hitherto made an absolute principled commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations.
