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My Take

My Take
My Take, a popular and sometimes controversial daily column of the South China Morning Post, analyses a variety of hot-button issues concerning Hong Kong, mainland China and the region.
Students gather outside the library building in Tsinghua University in Beijing. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

My Take | How Western classics are now weaponised against the West

Since the Tiananmen crackdown, a generation of mainland public intellectuals and scholars have turned classical study on its head.

Israel-Gaza war

My Take | Cancelled HKU event offers a chance to address fate of Gazans

China technology

My Take | DeepSeek has changed China’s AI model landscape – what’s next?

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United States

My Take | The West just ain’t what it used to be – and we all should welcome it

Europe is breaking away from America, and an Anglosphere may finally emerge from the US shadow out of necessity and self-preservation.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talks with US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 28. Photo: TNS
United States

My Take | A ‘toxic masculinity’ explanation of Donald Trump’s foreign policy

In his relations with other nations, the US president exhibits the same pattern of abuse of power as his alleged treatment of women.

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Climate change

My Take | China steps up charge on climate change fight as the US turns away

While it remains to be seen how effective Beijing’s policies will be, having the largest emitter fill the leadership void can hardly be bad for the planet.

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Artificial intelligence

My Take | China’s AI revolution should promote equality, not just innovation

DeepSeek shows China’s tech strategy is paying off, but Beijing should also push AI education to help close income and opportunity gaps.

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The success of DeepSeek and other Chinese AI companies is proof of how effective Beijing’s investments in training and innovation have been. Photo: Reuters
China technology

My Take | Will AI and robots drive China’s next consumer spending spree?

China is seeking the next ‘big items’ to encourage consumers to open their wallets. Technology looks to be a key.

Rodrigo Duterte

My Take | Domestic politics is why Rodrigo Duterte is facing the International Criminal Court

Former Philippine president’s detention made possible by local rivalry, but a similar fate for Putin and Netanyahu will not happen any time soon, if ever.

Britain

My Take | ‘Cowardly’ rapist must be held to account for all his horrific crimes

A Chinese student convicted in London of drugging and raping 10 women may have attacked a further 50, some who may not even know.

Zou Zhenhao, the Chinese student who was found guilty by a London court of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China. Photo: Reuters
Australia

My Take | Australian security lies in defence of country, not challenging China

As Trump pick for top defence post has second thoughts on deal for Aukus submarines, Canberra should mend fences with Beijing, Paris.

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Chinese ships conduct combat exercises in the Pacific Ocean. Photo: CCTV
Canada

My Take | Next Canadian leader will feel US wrath if he gets too close to China

Mark Carney of the ruling Liberal Party certainly talks tough with Washington, but he cannot afford to be over-friendly with Beijing.

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US-China relations

Opinion | Trump a bigger threat to US dollar than China, ex-senior economics officials say

White House brings ‘budgetary chaos with extraordinary speed’, potentially triggering a fiscal crisis and run on US Treasuries market.

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Canada

My Take | Ottawa caught between rock and hard place with US, China tariffs

At least Beijing only retaliates economically but will never threaten Canada’s sovereignty and territorial integrity like America is doing.

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China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, after the United States. Photo: TNS
Hong Kong national security law

My Take | For Hong Kong’s top court, challenges of the security law have only just begun

Such cases are often seen in black and white terms. But interpreting and applying the law along with the legal system’s core principles is complex.

A statue of Lady Justice at the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters
Diplomacy

My Take | Realist Xi vs fabulist Trump, just guess who will come out on top

US president’s Panama Canal move, while having made a lot of money for HK tycoon, is more like misdirected fire than a win over Beijing.

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Two Sessions 2025

My Take | ‘Two sessions’ a chance to boost China’s image, but more transparency needed

Chinese officials should seize legislative sessions as opportunity for good publicity to bolster economy and win support from overseas.

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Artificial intelligence

My Take | After DeepSeek, China gets a leg up in the quest for human-level AI

Will artificial general intelligence (AGI) arrive with a bang or quietly evolve? The answer may have implications in the US-China tech race.

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How AGI emerges could determine the outcome of the US-China AI race, writes SCMP Tech Editor Zhou Xin. Photo: AFP

My Take | Zelensky’s Oval Office flare-up should be a Taiwan wake-up call

As the island is now even more exposed to America’s unreliability, it is time to test Beijing’s sincerity by switching to a diplomatic approach.

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Hong Kong budget 2025-26

My Take | No guaranteed win when it comes to legalised gambling on sport

The government is exploring legalising betting on basketball. But the plan has reignited debate about the impact on society – and rightly so.

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US-China tech war

My Take | Why America is fighting the wrong tech war against Beijing

China has pivoted on advanced manufacturing processes to encourage incremental innovations rather than flashy breakthroughs.

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China has shown it’s possible to push and refine manufacturing to bring forth incremental tech breakthroughs and advanced products. Photo: AFP
Vancouver

My Take | Canadian values may not be many Hongkongers’ cup of tea

Those of us may find it hard to deal with the country’s acceptance of drug use, multiple gender identities and highly accessible euthanasia.

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A customer sniffs a display sample of marijuana at a marijuana retail shop in Vancouver in 2019. Photo: AP
US-China relations

My Take | Rediscovering an American economic prophet of doom

Charles Kindleberger long ago argued for the opposite of the Thucydides trap and taught generations of investors about market bubbles.

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My Take | Is this an appalling crime or an appalling miscarriage of justice?

A British nurse is behind bars for life after being convicted of killing seven babies. Now an expert panel has claimed there were ‘no murders’.

Climate change

My Take | As the US turns away, China has even bigger role in climate fight

While Trump has again withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, Beijing shows no signs of altering its commitment to greening its economy.

US President Donald Trump holds letter to the UN stating the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. Photo: AFP

My Take | The EU runs an insecurity conference in Munich for everyone to see

The world has become multipolar but European leaders are behaving more like hapless bipolar patients and have no one but themselves to blame.

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US Vice-President J.D. Vance speaks during the 61st Munich Security Conference. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
US-China relations

My Take | If the ground is shifting underneath you, you’re in the right place

Revelations from Munich Security Conference show opportunities for Beijing, but expectations must be tempered.

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Donald Trump

My Take | Trump wants power without the responsibility, abroad and at home

He is completing the final destruction of the very ideals of Roosevelt’s New Deal and fulfilling Nixon’s perks without obligations to the world.

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