China’s so-called ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomacy is not a new phenomenon but it has taken on a new dimension over the course of the pandemic, said Bloomberg reporter Peter Martin in a Zoom talk hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong. 

“Some of China’s strengths have been highlighted; its ability to use its supply chains to produce massive amounts of vaccine and personal protective equipment, and to ship those around the world, kind of plays to a strength of the Chinese system,” said Martin. “But it’s paired with this insistence that once that aid is received, countries must be publicly grateful to Beijing and they should keep quiet about issues over which they might disagree.”

Martin, the author of China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, also discussed the origins of the Wolf Warrior ethos within the Communist Party, stemming from the inception of the party.

He explained that China’s first foreign minister, Zhou Enlai, “came up with the idea that Chinese diplomats should think and act like the People’s Liberation Army in civilian clothing, which meant of course that they would be unfailingly loyal to the Communist Party, they would show extraordinary discipline following orders and they would also develop what he called a ‘fighting spirit’ when China’s interests were challenged.”

Martin offered an overview of how China implemented this ethos in its foreign policy during its rise to power as the world’s second-largest economy, detailing a pivot from low-profile and conciliatory foreign diplomacy toward a more combative, defensive and provocative stance in recent years.

He said that the Wolf Warrior approach really gained momentum in 2017: “When China’s economy was stronger and larger than it had ever been, Xi Jinping was pushing the Belt and Road Initiative around the world, [China] opened a military base in Djibouti and was militarizing islands in the South China Sea.”

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Offering an overview of the relationship between China and Hong Kong, longtime public servant and politician Regina Ip, a member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, said that tensions between the mainland and the SAR were natural and to be expected. 

“The implementation of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ was never expected to be painless and trouble-free,” said Ip during a lunchtime talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. “It is a bold and innovative concept, but the accommodation of a small but radically different system within a large, continental-size economy, is bound to be fraught with tensions and challenges.”

Describing One Country, Two Systems as “a reunification project,” she offered a firsthand account of being present at the negotiations between Britain and China that preceded the Joint Declaration. She also reflected on her time as the Secretary for Security, when she was responsible for implementing Article 23 of the Basic Law, which led to widespread protests.

“It is really a great pity that my draft bill did not get enacted,” said Ip. “If it got enacted, it would not have been necessary for Beijing to do it for Hong Kong. I experienced firsthand how a legitimate constitutional requirement to protect national security was scuttled at that time because of widespread misunderstanding of our constitutional responsibility.”

Speaking about the National Security Law enacted in 2020, Ip was quick to defend it. 

“The implementation of the National Security Law is bound to impose certain new limits on Hong Kong people’s freedoms, but this trade-off between security and freedom is a universal phenomenon,” said Ip. “Hong Kong’s National Security Law remains much milder and more restrained than similar legislation in many other jurisdictions.”

She continued: “Our judiciary remains independent in reaching judicial decisions, and robust in upholding legal principles.”

Asked to comment on freedom of speech under the National Security Law, Ip did not seem concerned. 

“I think the freedom of speech — although some people are naturally a bit concerned whether what they say, what they do, what they write could infringe the National Security Law — I think the freedom of expression is still alive and well. I mean, [the FCC is] carrying on business as usual,” said Ip. “I think the concerns are understandable but I don’t think there is any really undue suppression of the expression of freedom in Hong Kong.”

As for Hong Kong’s future, Ip was wholeheartedly optimistic: “Our economic integration with the GBA will bring unprecedented opportunities to the people of Hong Kong.”

In conclusion, she said, “My personal opinion is that the future of Hong Kong cannot be brighter.”

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While some Western governments may look at China’s rise with anxiety and some with awe, many Chinese see their country’s growing prominence on the global stage as a return to a natural state of affairs. In his insightful historical survey Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World, journalist and author Michael Schuman examines how the Chinese view their past and their place in the world—and how that affects their present policies and ambitions.

In a lunch talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club moderated by FCC President Keith Richburg, Schuman said that his own experience of learning history had inspired the book.

“We are, I think, all in part shaped by our history and, more importantly, how we learn our history and how we perceive our history, or in some cases, misperceive our history,” said Schuman. 

“This creates a certain worldview — how we see ourselves, how we see other countries, and how we see that they fit into the greater world — and my sense of what’s going on now as we seem to be heading unfortunately into a new period of superpower competition, is that you can see these different worldviews playing a role in this unfolding and unfortunate competition.”

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For over 20 years, award-winning political cartoonist Harry Harrison has put pen to paper satirizing Hong Kong life and politics for the South China Morning Post. Having recently released a new book, Add Ink: Cartoon Chronicles of Life in Hong Kong, Harrison appeared at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club to discuss his career and the process of drawing cartoons. 

He explained that his creative process starts every day around 6pm, when he receives a list of news stories for the next day’s newspaper. He then drafts as many as ten cartoon ideas and sends them in for review.

“Every night, I think they hate the cartoons,” said Harrison. 

He said that his sense of humor stemmed from being a child whose family moved around a lot, which meant that he often encountered bullies at new schools.

 “I discovered humor, one-liners, would diffuse just about any situation and make you friends very quickly,” said Harrison.

FCC President Keith Richburg, who moderated the event, said that, in spite of all the negative developments for press freedom in Hong Kong, he felt that SCMP continuing to publish Harrison’s cartoons was a positive sign.

Harrison responded: “I’m continuing doing what I do assuming I’m treading the right side of whatever invisible red line there. As far as I know, that’s what’s happening and they know what my cartoons are about. Either that or I’m sitting on a powder keg.”

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China’s active approach to governing social welfare goals in the age of big tech has become a widely known attribute of the CCP’s modus operandi in recent years. However, according to a panel of experts who were invited to speak by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, this starkly contrasting approach to regulation in the West poses a myriad of uncertainties for some of its largest companies looking to raise capital in U.S. equity markets, and have stoked concerns of data privacy and national security risks for both the U.S. and Chinese governments. 

“The content regulation part of the fan and gaming economy is saying, ‘Hey, these types of activities we don’t want to see our youth engaging in, and we don’t want to see this driving our social media and getting the attention of society, we don’t think it’s healthy,’” said Rui Ma, founder of Tech Buzz China. “‘We don’t think it’s moral’ – you could say that is political, or you could say that also actually that’s been very evident from day one, this has been part of policy in general.”

Paul Triolo, head of the geo-technology practice at the Eurasia Group, highlighted the regulatory complexities for Chinese firms tapping foreign capital with U.S. stock listings: “How viable is the VIE structure from a U.S. regulatory point of view?”

“There needs to be more transparency in revealing regulatory risk, and also just emphasizing for U.S. investors that the VIE structure does not mean ownership in a Chinese company but in a shell company in the Cayman Islands,” said Triolo. “There’s a sense that there has to be some level of collaboration here so that you don’t disrupt financial markets, and big areas of business where there still tremendous amounts of dependence between the two economies.”

“The political climate doesn’t allow the current administration to be too close to China, so at the end of the day, I’m still very optimistic in terms of some of the biggest issues the world is truly facing, such as climate change and pandemic. It does require the world’s two largest economies to work together,” said Jennifer Zhu, executive chairman of the Commons Project. 

“The most important thing is that we’re not going to see many Chinese tech companies listing in the U.S., and they will choose domestic stock markets — and when I say domestic, I’m for the first time including Hong Kong as well.”

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On September 1, Dr. Trisha Leahy, chief executive officer of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), joined the FCC for an in-person discussion about the lead-up to Hong Kong’s Olympic success. “These are the results of the system we’ve been building for the last eight to 12 years,” said Leahy.

When Edgar Cheung Ka-long earned a gold medal in fencing – ending Hong Kong’s 25-year gold medal hiatus – some spectators expressed surprise. Many did not realise that the city had a strong fencing culture, let alone an international star competing in the sport. But anyone who had been following Chinese-language coverage of Hong Kong’s elite athletes would have known Cheung was among the favoured competitors, said Leahy.

“I’d really like to see more English-language coverage – I’ve been complaining about the lack of it for years,” said Leahy. Chinese-language media has covered Cheung and his Olympic teammates for some time, making them household names for Hong Kong’s athletics fans, she explained. But English-language coverage of Hong Kong’s athletes has been lacking, creating a sense of surprise when the city brought home Olympic medals.

Hong Kong’s efforts to become a hub of world-renowned athletes started a long time back, said Leahy. Some factors – like population size, physiological profiles, familial support, and self-motivation – are nigh-impossible to manipulate. But funding for proper facilities, coaches, medical staff, and education support can be controlled. That’s where the government has stepped in, said Leahy. 

In the 2021-2022 budget, the government invested HK$737 million in HKSI via the Elite Athletes Development Fund – roughly 42 percent more than in 2017-2018. What’s more, construction workers broke ground on the Kai Tak Sports Park in 2019 and the government allocated HK$990 million in August 2021 to expand the HKSI facilities.

When it comes to training, Hong Kong elite athletes start young, practising regularly and eventually train full-time to reach a goal like the Olympics. By the time athletes make it to the Games, it’s generally clear who has the potential to rank in the top tier.

“We’re not surprised because we’re constantly tracking results,” said Leahy. Groups like the HKSI monitor the four-year cycles of junior and senior competitions. Athletes who can place in the top three globally in the two years prior to the Olympics tend to have the best chance of winning a medal, said Leahy. 

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The history of China may be long, but it’s not necessarily that complicated according to Linda Jaivin, author of The Shortest History of China, which runs less than 300 pages. In a Zoom talk hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, she identified several recurring themes which are key to understanding China no matter what time period you’re looking at: corruption; anxiety over orderly succession; and stress over borders, different countries and tribal groups. 

“When we talk about China, it’s a constantly evolving concept,” said Jaivin, who said her book is filled with wild characters, arts and culture and stories of women who have played important roles in Chinese history. 

The author also spoke about what she called China’s “woman problem,” arguing that there is a lack of gender equality and a lack of women in prominent positions of power in spite of communist ideals of everyone being equal. 

Placing the Chinese Communist Party in a historical context, Jaivin said that the party cloaks itself in Confucian themes. The reality, she said, is that many of its policies, including the social credit system, have a Legalist slant, i.e. “do the right thing and get rewarded.”

Still, she said, “the Communist Party is in power because it does the right thing.”

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In the spring, distressing scenes of India’s second coronavirus wave spread across the globe, showing hospitals desperately trying to cope with an unprecedented surge in admissions and dwindling oxygen supplies. As a result, experts were left wondering, ‘What could we have learnt from the first wave to more adequately prepare?’, ‘What evidence and logic is guiding decision making?’, and ‘What impact will lockdowns and supply chain disruptions have on India’s already declining GDP growth prior to the pandemic?’ 

To get answers to these questions, Bloomberg correspondent and FCC Correspondent Governor Iain Marlow moderated an insightful discussion on India’s handling of the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic with a panel of revered experts of global health, public policy and economics.

“To me, in some ways the most visible political act of the second wave that ran thought he month of April and May was the national government completely abdicating itself of all responsibility, and trying to push blame [and] responsibility on to state governments,” said Yamini Aiyar, President of New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research. She went on to discuss the implications of an extreme push toward centralized decision making by Narendra Modi’s government, in a country long governed by complex state and religious laws.

Devaki Nambiar, program head at Australia’s George Institute for Global Health discussed the importance of healthcare infrastructure in handling the COVID-19 pandemic alongside concurrent health emergencies such as a Zika outbreak in Kerala and a Calicut airplane crash, as well as “extraordinary exclusion[s]” stemming from English-based vaccine registration platforms “in a country where just about 4% of the rural population has access to computers.”

Mihir Sharma, Bloomberg Opinion columnist and research fellow at India’s Observer Research Foundation, outlined the challenges of surveying India’s large informal workforce noting, “We’re probably not going to know for the next 6-8 months exactly what the situation is in terms of employment and welfare on the ground”. 

With declining GDP and tax revenue leading to a “situation where for the foreseeable future, for the years to come, we are a 90% or 85%-90% debt-to-GDP country… that makes a big difference to what the government thinks, and what the government thinks it can take on in terms of welfare, in terms of growth and in terms of supporting Indian citizens through what will be a fairly problematic return to normal,” said Sharma.

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In a lunch talk hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, Fox Sports Asia analyst and FCC member Matthew Marsh gave a behind-the-scenes look at F1 in the age of COVID. 

He highlighted F1’s now Executive Chairman, Chase Carey, as “the person who performed best… [leading] a team that put on 17 races across 12 countries” in 2020 as the sport grappled with challenges brought about by the pandemic. He added that F1 is “much more financially sustainable now than it was before.”

Having presented much of his F1 coverage from his home in Hong Kong during the pandemic, Marsh also discussed the nuances of in-person versus remote journalism, and he shared his thoughts on how F1 coverage after COVID may evolve. 

“As a journalist, being able to talk to other journalists, being able to talk to team people, being able to watch the way they behave is critical,” said Marsh, comparing the experience of firsthand, in-person reporting versus remote reporting.

The flip side of that is… when I interview drivers on Zoom or whatever it is we’re using, it’s better. Would you believe?” said Marsh.

“When it’s one on one… the person looks at me the same way they probably do with their friends.”

Watch the full event below: