When about 500,000 people marched in protest on July 1, 2003 against national security legislation, known as Article 23, a stunned Hong Kong government withdrew the proposed law. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the security secretary at...

This September marks the fifth anniversary of Occupy Central, a mass pro-democracy uprising that paralyzed Hong Kong’s key commercial districts for 79 days. Five years on, the protest, which drew tens of thousands of people in...

If the administration of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has any sense, it should withdraw without further delay the poorly thought-out proposal for an extradition arrangement with mainland China. The more Lam and her top...

Most Hong Kong people would agree it is agonizing to watch budget speeches by our financial secretaries. They last too long, are read out in monotone, and are written in the most unimaginative way possible. As...

Hong Kong is undeniably one of the world’s wealthiest cities. The jobless rate is a mere 2.8 percent, over half the population lives in government-subsidized flats, healthcare in government hospitals is heavily subsidized, and life expectancy...

Slowly but surely it seems we are heading back to the bad old days when mutual contempt between then-chief executive Leung Chun-ying and the opposition ran so deep that the two sides wouldn’t even acknowledge each...

There is nothing wrong in promoting respect for the national anthem of your country. As a naturalized American, I stand respectfully with my right hand over my heart whenever the Star Spangled Banner – my county’s...

What exactly is the Greater Bay Area? Those who came up with the concept are branding it as China’s answer to America’s Silicon Valley. Hong Kong and mainland leaders proudly boast it will rival and replace...

Don’t ever read too much into an election outcome. Doing so could make you misjudge which way voters are leaning in the next election. Never forget that an election outcome reflects only the mood of voters...

Is Hong Kong really dying? That was the topic of a seminar last week organized by veteran politician Emily Lau Wai-hing at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. A controversial topic at a sensitive venue, especially after the...

“It’s morning again in America.“ The late US president Ronald Reagan used this 1984 TV campaign commercial to great effect during his re-election campaign. It so resonated with voters that even to this day it’s rated one...

No one disagrees that Hong Kong’s most urgent issue is the abysmal state of its housing. Even the opposition admits this although it insists the housing crisis doesn’t give the government an excuse to ignore political reforms...

Hong Kong stepped into uncharted terrain this week by banning a separatist party which advocates independence from China. By taking such unprecedented action, the government has put us in a legal and political minefield. It would...

We in Hong Kong like to talk a lot about democracy. But what exactly is democracy? The opposition insists it will only accept so-called genuine democracy. It loosely describes this as one person one vote without...

No one knows which came first, the chicken or the egg, but which should come first – political reforms or Article 23 national security legislation? Beijing loyalists have joined forces to demand the speedy enactment of...

Less than two months after Donald Trump completed his first year in office as America’s most unconventional president in recent history, China’s National People’s Congress amended the country’s constitution to extend indefinitely Xi Jinping’s term as...

If you think Hong Kong’s insane property market will magically find sanity one day, don’t hold your breath. You will only suffocate. Forget that dream about owning a flat anytime soon. It will remain a dream...

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. I saw a recent picture in the media that told much more than a thousand words about Hong Kong as it marks 21 years...

If hundreds of young people armed with makeshift shields set fires, hurl bricks at police and kick them to the ground, would you describe such violence as a riot? Before you decide, you need to know the...

Can Hong Kong ever be like mainland China? That question came up at a recent private dinner I attended. One businessman gave this blunt answer: Hong Kong is part of China but it will never be...