Archive
The Washington Post
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From a local and an expat, two stories of Hong Kong — and similar worries
China’s communist authorities in Beijing and their handpicked leaders in Hong Kong have been busy lately trying to rewrite the recent tumultuous history of this former British colony turned Chinese “special administrative region.” …
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Opinion – There are two Hong Kongs. China is betting one can survive without the other.
Hong Kong now is increasingly a story of two cities occupying the same compact space, but existing in parallel realities. One Hong Kong is populated by bankers and financial services professionals, real estate developers and property owners, and businesspersons whose primary pursuit is trade with mainland China. In this universe, times are good and getting…
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Opinion – America tried nation-building in Afghanistan — but never committed to it
The United States went into Afghanistan to avenge the 9/11 attacks. We stayed promising to rebuild the country — with President George W. Bush invoking, in 2002, “the best traditions of George Marshall” and then-Sen. Barack Obama, in 2008, calling on Americans to “heed Marshall’s lesson” — even as both leaders took pains to avoid…
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China transformed Hong Kong into a typical mainland city, almost overnight
The two decades beginning in 1997, when Britain handed this territory to China, and ending when it became like every other mainland city, were Hong Kong’s best years, and my favorite. It was a proud, optimistic place. The change of sovereignty had led to no mass exodus, no large contingent of People’s Liberation Army troops…