David Webb, who died on January 13 age 60, was a unique figure in the annals of the Hong Kong financial industry. It was not so much that he was highly intelligent, a “computer geek” from his teenage years with an Oxford degree in mathematics that led him to a career starting with Barclays Capital and early riches. At least as important was his commitment to long hours of work that got to truths which others missed. That combination in turn did two things. It created wealth for himself, most often by taking a fine-toothed comb to smaller listed companies, finding hidden gems and hidden traps in a market with plenty of both. 

It also provided information that saved myriad others from losing money to scams, dodgy accounting and innocent ignorance. “Scientia Potentia Est”, Knowledge is Power, was the motto of his Webb-site.com, where he posted for free his investigations into companies, individuals and institutions. He assembled a vast and unsurpassed database of companies and their directors and analysed public issues, such as the Hong Kong taxi business and the government’s annual budget. 

He was driven by two over-arching beliefs. Firstly, that capitalism was best served by free and open competition and serviced by ready access to information on which investors could base their decisions. Monopolies and oligopolies were a danger to economic health and individual prosperity, but all too often were protected by a government overly influenced by vested interests. 

Secondly, that he had a public duty, as one who had used his knowledge to prosper, to pass it on to the public in general, and to confront issues when he found abuses, inaccuracies and flaws in laws and systems that deterred the free flow of competition and information. That principal applied in politics as well as business, and he publicly supported the pro-democracy 2014 Umbrella Movement. Making money by diligent investing provided a platform for pressing for reforms and accountability. 

Nor did he just contribute from the sidelines. He was an elected member of the board of HK Exchanges for five years and later a member of the Takeovers Panel of the Securities and Futures Commission, always pressing for transparency and the protection of minority shareholders from abuse by dominant interests. David could be demanding and dogmatic and met sometimes fierce criticism from others in the financial sector, particularly the local broking industry on the subject of minimum commissions. He was not appreciated by the government for his detailed policy criticisms and what some saw as a quasi-political agenda. But his combination of facts, clear goals and determination did help to raise standards of information and accountability, and he was mostly held in high regard by a public that always suspected it was being exploited by the financial sector at large, such as the costs of the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme. His exposure of the artificial trading that boosted the share prices of 50 interlinked listed companies — which he named the Enigma Network — led to charges against several executives, and also showed up the feeble performance of the frontline regulator. Even after the discovery of metastatic cancer in 2020, David continued to raise issues, including criticism of the excessive restrictions on movement imposed during Covid.  

David was a longtime friend of the FCC and chose to make his last public appearance here on May 12, a lunch that broke attendance records and for which he received a prolonged standing ovation. Even staunch critics could not deny the public legacy of a life sadly shortened by cancer. Contributing to society was more important than his success at making money. Very visible for his Webb-site work and role as an activist investor, David was personally a quiet and unflamboyant family man. He is survived by his wife Karen and two children. 

By Jennifer Jett

Images courtesy of AJ Lubinao at HKU

When people talk about Kevin Drew, the word most often used is “kind”.

Drew was a lifelong journalist, digital pioneer and cherished mentor whose career included eight years in Hong Kong, where he was an FCC Correspondent Member from 2005 to 2007. He died on 6 December, 2025 of oesophageal cancer at age 64.

Early in his career, Drew — who was born in Oregon — worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Associated Press (AP), including a stint as The AP’s correspondent in Slovakia. 

He moved to Hong Kong in 2005 with CNN, after spending five years as a producer at its Atlanta bureau. In Hong Kong, Drew was CNN International’s supervising editor for the Asia-Pacific region, overseeing news of all kinds on the website.

In 2010 he moved to the International Herald Tribune, the international edition of The New York Times, where he worked as a reporter and editor as well as contributing to Rendezvous, a blog dedicated to global news and analysis at a time when blogging was relatively new to journalism. 

During that time, Drew covered a range of Asia-Pacific news, including the 2010 Manila hostage crisis, tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. He also covered news in Hong Kong, including the 2012 Chief Executive election, domestic helpers’ fight for permanent residency and the 15th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover.

In addition to his own work, Drew was passionate about cultivating the next generation of journalists, teaching reporting and writing part-time at Hong Kong University’s (HKU) Journalism and Media Studies Centre. 

Kevin Lau, who worked with Drew at HKU, said he was a creative journalism teacher. Drew once asked Lau and another colleague at the journalism school to surprise his students by bursting into his classroom without notice. They then started saying random, unconnected sentences, leaving the students “shocked and confused by the scene”. 

“After we departed, Kevin asked the students to recall what we had said and to describe our dress. As expected, the students’ recollections varied,” Lau said. 

“At that moment, I knew Kevin was always willing to use whatever resources necessary to teach concepts,” he recalled. “In that instance, students understood that people’s memories of the same incident can vary, a key lesson in reporting and the need for journalists to write notes during an event and not to rely on recollection.”

Drew spent one year as a full-time Associate Journalism Professor at HKU before leaving Hong Kong in 2013.

From there, he went to the University of Missouri to pursue a Master’s in journalism, with his research focusing on the increasingly urgent question of how news organisations should evolve their business models.

After completing his degree, Drew spent more than six years at U.S. News & World Report, where he continued to report and edit international news.

A young colleague of Drew’s at U.S. News said his support changed her life, and that he never made her feel that she “didn’t belong in rooms that felt impossibly large — from Congress to corporate boardrooms”.

In a tribute she posted on LinkedIn, Sintia Radu recalled that Drew told her “You’ll be fine. We all start somewhere.”

Since 2022, Drew had been working at the American public broadcaster NPR, where he was overnight supervising editor and “the man that took our urgent calls in the middle of the night,” said NPR host Leila Fadel on ‘Morning Edition’ on 10 December, 2025. 

“Kevin lived as he reported,” his siblings Judith Bentley, Laura McKay and Keith Drew wrote, “with passion for people and a caring heart.”

Donations in honour of Kevin Drew’s memory can be made to the Portland Shriner’s Hospital for Children, where he spent time as a child after being diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, at donate.shrinerschildrens.org/fundraiser/6870340

By Hugo Novales

It’s not often that a Nobel laureate visits the FCC.

Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, visited Hong Kong in mid-November for the International Forum on China’s Economy and Policy 2025 and came to speak at the FCC while in town. Despite being an early-morning breakfast event, a fully-booked Main Dining Room awaited the renowned economist.

Alongside FCC First Vice President Karen Koh, Professor Stiglitz first gave his overall impressions of Trump’s economic policies since he took office in January 2025.

“Terrible. I don’t know where to begin in saying it’s gone wrong. I don’t think the full consequences have been felt,” he said.

His criticism stemmed from the Trump administration’s focus on economic policies that function as a quick-fix to present circumstances. Most of the US’ competitors, including China, prefer long-term economic planning in order to maintain longevity. He then explained how Trump’s brash attitude and new policies both mimic plays from a fascist’s handbook.

“I think this current administration is an abandonment of 250 years of what in the West we would call Enlightenment. It’s an attack on Enlightenment. It is the attack on science, attack on our universities, attack on the rule of law. It is trampling on the legal framework… So it’s fascism, in a way,” he said.

Since starting his second term as US president, Trump has feuded with various facets of American society, including news organisations, former allies, political opponents, and universities. Professor Stiglitz finds that Trump’s many attacks on whoever he disagrees with as undermining the U.S.’ competitive edge on the global stage.

“The US cannot function well as a society without the rule of law, with a society that’s so divided and without science, without technology, which is our comparative advantage,” he said.

One of Trump’s goals is to bring manufacturing back to the US. Car factories, ship-makers, iron workers, and other fields that have been outsourced to other developing countries decades ago are all on the president’s revival agenda, yet Professor Stiglitz believes this won’t be effective.

“Trump is living in the 1950s,” he said, emphasising that these industries are long gone — transferred to other developing countries decades ago — and even if they were to return, they would still only account for 8-9% of the country’s GDP.

Instead, Professor Stiglitz argues, the US should identify where its economy isn’t developing as well and should prioritize improving these areas. He notes that the Trump administration has this tactic of restructuring in mind, however it’s misguided and will only result in further economic stagnation. He also suggested that U.S. influence internationally may become less important as it’s seen as a less reliable partner, and its soft power wanes.

“He’s going to fail,” he concluded.

To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel:

By Hugo Novales

What makes a good magazine? Is the glossy finish on the cover? The immaculately styled photoshoots and exclusive interviews? Tyler Brûlé, editorial director of Monocle magazine, may have the answer.

Since 2007, Monocle has been committed to perfecting the art of making a good magazine. Published 10 times a year, each issue of Monocle aims to be an all-in-one stop where readers can get updates on global affairs, business, culture, design, and more.

Monocle has since expanded its empire, offering shops and cafés in various locations across the world — including Hong Kong International Airport and Wan Chai.

The FCC had the rare chance to have an intimate, wide-ranging conversation with Brûlé at a Club Lunch moderated by Correspondent Board Governor Lee Williamson, who kicked off the event with a quickfire barrage of hotseat questions.

Describe what you do in one sentence: 

“Discover.”

What is Monocle?

“A global briefing on better living.”

What is a travel hack you swear by?

“Hotel laundry.”

What do you never go on a trip without?

“Full-charged credit card.”

Tell us something that would surprise most people about you: 

“Messy.”

Hong Kong or Singapore? 

“Oh God, set me up… Bangkok!”

Brûlé endured the hotseat effortlessly and was even applauded by the audience for his willingness to participate.

He was then asked how he created Monocle, and what inspired him to become a journalist, editor, and entrepreneur.

“I didn’t always want to be a journalist. I wanted to be a fighter pilot,” he said.

Inspired by fellow Canadians who had successful careers in American broadcasting, Brûlé later covered the war in Afghanistan for Focus, a German news magazine. While driving through Kabul in 1994, the UN-branded Nissan that he and his interpreter were traveling in was shot 39 times. Brûlé was hit twice while his interpreter was hit 4 times. Both survived.

It was while being treated in hospital that Brûlé began thinking about his future and what he would really like to accomplish with his career.

“Whatever I do next, I would like to set up my own organisation,” was what he thought then.

The idea for Monocle’s unique approach to print came from Brûlé’s observations at airport bookshops. He noticed how other travelers consumed print magazines: they’d first pick up the serious publications covering business and global affairs before switching to lighter, fun reads.

“Why don’t we just do both? Why don’t we just merge that idea and put all of that under one roof?” Brûlé said.

Monocle published its first issue in March 2007; this November saw Monocle produce its 188^th issue. Monocle’s print empire also offers various books on design, city and travel guides, and more. What’s absent from Monocle is a large online presence, highlighting Brûlé’s commitment to print.

“Who has ever been to the launch of a website? You don’t go to a website signing, do you?” he said, while further elaborating that publications who choose to use social media stylistically conform to whichever platform they’re using and risk losing their unique identity.

Brûlé further dove into his philosophy behind designing a good magazine.

“I believe [that] magazines should be bookish, that they should be objects, and I think that’s more true than ever,” he said.

Given that this talk was hosted at the FCC, Williamson then took the opportunity to ask how Hong Kong can improve its ranking on Monocle’s Quality of Life Survey that’s published annually. This year, Paris took the top spot — scoring the highest in nightlife, housing, transportation, and other criteria.

To date, Hong Kong hasn’t made it onto Monocle’s top ten list. Brûlé explained Monocle’s judging method.

“There has to be minimum friction on every level,” he said, adding that, “Does a city allow you to have a maximum number of experiences a day?”

While dodging Williamson’s previous hotseat question about whether he liked Hong Kong or Singapore more, Brûlé affirmed that he was still a bigger fan of Hong Kong’s, citing the city’s “snap and excitement” that has, in his opinion, more character than Singapore.

This was his 7^th time coming to Hong Kong in 2025 alone, and Brûlé praised the city for its muched-needed bounce back from the Covid era that resulted in travel and nightlife restrictions that dampened Hong Kong’s livelihood.

“Things are feeling better here,” Brûlé said, while offering advice that Hong Kong should be more vocal about its accomplishments and should aim to be more dynamic moving forward.

To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel:

By Hugo Novales

China’s rise has been documented in Western media as a threat to global stability, especially through the lens of observers in Washington DC. Regardless of their political differences, both Democrats and Republicans agree that China’s growing influence is a problem and that the US needs to safeguard its position as a global leader.

But should the world actually fear China? Zhou Bo says otherwise.

Zhou Bo, who retired from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the rank of retired Senior Colonel, is now a senior fellow at the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. Beginning his career at Guangzhou’s Air Force Regional Command and holding many military and academic titles since then, Zhou’s career has culminated in him becoming one of the most prominent writers covering China’s foreign and military policies.

He recently published Should the World Fear China? (2025) and spoke at an FCC Club Lunch alongside William Zheng, a Senior China Correspondent at SCMP and FCC Correspondent Board Governor. The two China experts began the discussion by giving a brief overview of Zhou’s new book.

“The book actually is not a new book. It’s a collection of what I’ve written in the last 12 to 13 years, but what makes me somewhat different is that I’m a Chinese [person] who only writes in English,”  Zhou said while highlighting the fact that most of his columns and essays appear in Western media.

He then challenged the notion of a “ liberal international order ” being led by the US and other liberal democracies, explaining that such a world doesn’t actually exist and that claiming so would be contrary to world history.

“Why is there such a thing like a ‘liberal international order’ at all in the world? I don’t think there was such an order at all,” he said.

Zhou pointed out that as of 2025, only 24 out of 195 countries are labeled as full-on democracies. The remaining countries are governed by alternative political systems that all have their own history of formation that falls outside the lines of the international order established by Allied nations after WWII.

He specifically listed the independence of 51 African nations, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and China’s rise as three major examples of political reform that doesn’t follow the “rule-based order” established by the West. He further noted that when political scholars refer to this rule-based order, they are hyperfixating on the 15 years between the fall of the Soviet Union and China’s rise.

In China’s case, Zhou noted that the PRC has signed over 600 treaties with partners across the world and that while the West coined the “rule-based order” phrase, China has a different interpretation of it.

“All countries are driven by self interests,” he said to summarise the first section of the talk.

Zhou then dived into the current dangers that China is facing, one of which is a potential conflict with Taiwan that military and political figures across the world have been anticipating for decades.

Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. While most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, Washington opposes any attempt to seize the island by force and remains committed to supplying Taiwan with defensive weapons.

Zhou listed three factors that would result in Beijing  taking military action against Taiwan: if the Taiwanese government declares independence, if foreign forces attempt to separate Taiwan from mainland China, or if Beijing no longer believes that peaceful reunification is possible.

Zhou reminded that despite ongoing speculation, there is still no deadline for Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland, so he advises that Beijing should still believe that peaceful reunification is possible.

“Let the Chinese government believe [that] peaceful reunification is still possible. If [the] Chinese government believes it is still possible, China will not lose patience,” he explained.

The military veteran said preparations for any type of potential conflict can include several different plans, or any combination of these various plans. When asked about how exactly China might pursue reunification, Zhou admitted that even at his seniority, he doesn’t know, and that these plans can and will change as time goes on.

“For us to speculate, that would be meaningless,” he said.

Zhou also addressed audience questions about news reports from the UK claiming that female Chinese spies are attempting to infiltrate Silicon Valley by marrying big tech leaders and stealing valuable secrets. He finds these claims unbelievable, yet humorous.

“If our people are really as good as described, then yeah, I’m proud of them!” he said.

To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel:

By Hugo Novales

Out of the 38 jurisdictions around the world that have legalised same-sex marriage, only 2 in Asia have done so. Taiwan was first to grant gay couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples back in 2019, and Thailand followed suit this past January.

In Hong Kong, the Court of Final Appeal issued a 2023 verdict that gave the government a two-year deadline to create the legal framework necessary to recognise same-sex marriage. However, the proposed Same-Sex Partnerships Bill, which would have given gay couples rights regarding medical decisions and end-of-life care, was voted down 14-71 in early September.

With this news fresh in mind, the FCC held an October Club Lunch panel featuring Jerome Yau, Co-Founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality (HKME), as well as three Consuls General from countries that have legalised same-sex marriage: Jennifer Bourke from Ireland, Chaturont Chaiyakam from Thailand, and Pablo Macedo from Mexico.

Hosting the panel was FCC President Morgan Davis, who asked the three Consuls General to describe their respective countries’ processes for legalising same-sex marriage.

Ireland was the first to legalise same-sex marriage via popular vote in 2015. In the ten years since then, Bourke observed that despite her country’s historical ties to the Catholic Church, same-sex marriage hasn’t resulted in any negative impacts to Irish society as previously claimed by religious conservative groups.

“The sky didn’t fall. Nothing bad happened. Everything just kind of continued as normal, but it was better for the LGBTQ community,” she said.

Also navigating LGBTQ issues in a historically conservative society is Mexico, the first Latin American country to legalise same-sex marriage. Starting with Mexico City in 2009, same-sex marriage was then a federal issue, meaning that all 31 states in Mexico needed to pass their own local laws to allow gay couples to get married. The final state to enact same-sex legislation did so in 2022, and Mexico then made marriage equality a constitutional right in February 2023.

Macedo commented on the seemingly contradictory nature of protecting LGBTQ rights in such a devoutly religious society.

“Mexico is the only country in the world with an X in its name, and X also goes in oxymoron. It is a contradiction. Mexico is a contradiction in many, many things,” he said, adding that, “I don’t see any dissent now, even in very staunch conservative groups. People are getting used to it.”

In the case of Thailand, Chaiyakam explained that while the “land of smiles” may appear to be the most LGBTQ-friendly country in Asia, even with its “Pink Plus economy” aimed to attract tourists from around the world, conservatism is still a core value among Thai people.

“From outside, I think you may think Thailand is a liberal country, but deep down, if you are in Thailand, we are a very conservative country. But we have embraced diversity,” he said.

Thailand’s growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community and the increasing number of couples of all sexual orientations not having children helped pave the way for the Marriage Equality Act to be passed in October 2024 and put into effect this January.

While conservative groups still exist in Ireland, Mexico, and Thailand — with some groups still voicing their strong opposition to the LGBTQ community — the three Consuls General agreed that it would be unlikely that any of their country’s marriage equality legislation could be reversed easily.

Hong Kong hasn’t been able to pass its own legislation. Still, HKME is committed to educating citizens about LGBTQ issues.

“Our campaign is to win hearts and minds. In any society, you have people who are supportive of our cause, people who are against our cause, but at the same time we have the ‘moveable middle’, which is the group of people [who] we want to win support [from],” Yau said.

He then explained that despite a 2023 survey in which 60% of respondents said that they supported same-sex marriage, Hong Kong is also home to a strong, conservative block who are primarily Christian. There are more Buddhists and Taoists living in the city, yet Yau highlighted how this group has a massive amount of support and influence — resulting in the bill’s 14-71 loss in the Legislative Council.

While some may view this as an end to Hong Kong’s efforts to enact marriage equality, Yau and HKME haven’t lost hope for a more inclusive future.

“It’s a matter of time,” he said.

To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel: