Democracy

A Turkish national flag (left) and a banner bearing the portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish republic, hang from the exterior of a building in the Sisli district of Istanbul, Turkey, on 29 August 2022. (Nicole Tung/Bloomberg)

Why Turkey's national hero was honoured in Taiwan

Cultural historian Cheng Pei-kai muses on how heroes of the past are honoured after their time, recalling that in his youth in Taiwan, the founder of the Turkish republic was lauded as an honourable founding father, next to Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. However, given the similarities in ideals and values, could it be that the high praise for Ataturk was in fact meant to boost the controversial image of Chiang?
A child sitting on a man's shoulder takes a picture as she visits the Bund waterfront area in Shanghai, China, on 5 July 2023. (Wang Zhao/AFP)

Is China’s good fortune reversing?

Whether China can prove naysayers wrong and keep up its good national fortunes depends on solving old problems associated with restarting the mechanisms of the Soviet Union model, and tackling new problems arising from successful development.
The original artwork that appeared in Brick Lane, with the 12 core socialist values. (@yiqueart/Instagram)

No one wants to see China's propaganda slogans in London. Not even as graffiti

A London-based Chinese student’s graffiti has drawn widespread attention, as he painted the 12 core socialist values of the Chinese Communist Party on a wall in Brick Lane. While he denies political significance in the work, many local residents have responded to it by adding their own take, while netizens are debating its meaning. Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk looks at the young student's motivation and its result.
Chinese paramilitary police walk on the Bund promenade along the Huangpu river in the Huangpu district in Shanghai, China, on 15 June 2023. (Hector Retamal/AFP)

Can China maintain a hard line against the US?

In this key period of China’s rise, it can either choose to adopt a hard line or to cool down. History tells us that the hard line is likely to prevail, but China should be aware that this may lead to one overestimating its own strength, challenging the existing hegemon too soon, and ultimately meeting failure. The crucial question is whether the hard line is backed by wisdom. What China is going to do with the strength it has gained remains a puzzle to most countries, and this is the root of the perception of the Chinese threat.
People march as they participate in a May Day rally on 1 May 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images via AFP)

Can China and Russia reject Western political civilisation and still prosper?

Researcher Wei Da notes that while many things can be learned and embraced from the West, its political civilisation is one that China has rejected. But isn't that rejecting the core while transplanting the branches and leaves? Will that work?
Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy chief Wang Yi speaks as Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin look on during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 July 2023. (Mast Irham/Pool via Reuters)

Japanese academic: China imposing its ‘Asian values’ on its neighbours

Comments by Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi recently to Japanese and South Korean guests at a forum that they could never be a Westerner, and encouraging greater China-Japan-South Korean cooperation have ignited some backlash in Japan. Academic Shin Kawashima says that it would be almost unthinkable for Japan and South Korea to respond to such a call from China.
A taxi drives under Chinese and Hong Kong flags outside a shopping mall in Hong Kong, China, on 5 July 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Hong Kong’s pursuit of overseas activists could backfire

Lianhe Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing looks at the recent issuance of Interpol “red notices” by the Hong Kong government on eight pro-democracy activists living overseas, and what the move signals.
Hou You-yi, mayor of New Taipei City (centre) during a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, 17 May 2023. (I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg)

Why Hou You-yi won the KMT presidential nomination and Terry Gou did not

With about eight months to go to the next Taiwan presidential election, commentator Gu Er De explains why Hou You-yi won the nomination as KMT presidential candidate, while Terry Gou failed despite his best efforts.
People cross a street in front of a large propaganda poster in Shanghai, China, 10 April 2023. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Why is China struggling with identity politics both within and outside the nation?

Currently, deglobalisation and efforts to decouple from China benefit no one. Not only that, identity politics, with ideology at its core, fuels Western nations’ foolish ways of achieving a pyrrhic victory. To deal with this, the CCP’s utmost priority is to avoid being constrained by others’ definitions and to present a new image of socialism with Chinese characteristics. But is China ready to do this?