By Hugo Novales

It was an eventful start to the year 2026.

Three days into the new year, U.S. President Donald Trump orchestrated the capture of Venezuela’s sitting president, Nicolás Maduro, who is now facing narcoterrorism charges in New York. Ukraine is still defending itself against a Russian invasion while internal corruption scandals diminish the country’s domestic and international support. And more PLA generals have been purged in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive – calling into question China’s military readiness should it move against Taiwan.

To predict what’s in store for the world in 2026, the FCC held its annual “Year Ahead” panel — a recurring staple in the Club’s Speaker Events series.

Returning to the panel were Michael Bociurkiw and Wang Xiangwei, experts in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and Chinese politics respectively, who both spoke at the 2025 Year Ahead event. This time, HKU’s Bárbara Fernández-Melleda also joined to give a Latin American perspective on 2026 so far.

The panel, moderated by Correspondent Board Governor Jennifer Jett, first discussed how Trump’s actions — or inaction — have resulted in declining faith in the U.S.’ ability to maintain global peace.

“No inch of Ukraine is safe anymore,” said Bociurkiw, a Canadian-Ukrainian policy analyst based in Odessa. 

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Bociurkiw has covered all aspects of the war and how it has hurt everyday Ukrainians. Daily drone attacks, missile warnings, and growing graveyards across Ukraine are consistent proof to Bociurkiw that Trump hasn’t been effective in his efforts to restrain Russia’s ongoing attacks.

“When [Trump] says ‘I’ve never started a war,’ we have to question that,” he added, citing the Javelin missiles that were delivered to Ukraine during Trump’s first term as U.S. president.

With the world’s leading superpower falling short of its allies’ expectations, some see an opportunity for China to advance its position in the global hierarchy. Wang, a lifelong China watcher who is now a journalism professor at HKBU, disagrees.

“In China, there were lots of narrow-minded nationalists believing [that] now is the time for China to step up and become the leader of the Global South. I don’t think China is willing, nor is capable, to step up and play that leadership role,” he said.

Instead, Wang believes that China should let the U.S. continue to “self-destruct” while focusing on its own domestic issues and re-prioritising its foreign investment strategies. To Wang, it’s more important for China to invest in regions that are easily accessible to its own military.

“So shouldn’t China consider reducing or refraining from investing in the places that their military reach cannot cover? Shouldn’t China invest more in neighboring countries?” Wang asked rhetorically.

While Trump has polarised his own population, plus Western allies and Eastern competitors, Latin America has mixed opinions about the U.S. president.

“We cannot think of Latin America as a monolithic region,” said Fernández-Melleda, who teaches Chilean literature and culture at HKU’s School of Modern Languages.

Trump’s capture of Maduro was welcomed by many Venezuelans, she said, as well as citizens of other Latin American countries. The region’s varying political histories feature many different affiliations and ideologies, some of which may align with the Trump administration’s policies.

Despite some support for Trump in the region, Fernández-Melleda still finds his actions troubling for Latin America. Trump’s use of the U.S. military against foreign leaders, as well as the domestic actions of ICE  and other U.S. government agencies he has empowered, bear resemblance to past state violence across Latin America, said Fernández-Melleda, who noted that state violence in her home country of Chile led to protests and eventually positive political change.

On the topic of Trump’s internal and external “bullying” tactics, Bociurkiw had special criticism for his treatment of Canada, which Trump often refers to derisively as the “51st state”. Repeated economic and even military threats have unified Bociurkiw and his fellow Canadians against their longtime ally to the south.

“[Canada] will never allow a bully to bully us, and we will not allow that bully to take things away from us that are ours… We will never become submissive to a bully like [Trump],” he said.

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

By Hugo Novales

Hong Kong’s iconic neon signage began with the discovery of noble gases in 1898. The unique properties of neon, argon, and other elements were used to create commercial signage unlike anything seen before. Neon quickly took off in the US, Shanghai, and eventually Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s first neon sign went up in 1929 and was followed by a boom in the 1950s due to an influx of experts from Shanghai resettling in the city. Since then, Hong Kong has become the global hub for a community of neon artists and enthusiasts.

But that community is shrinking. In 2010 the local government introduced the Signboard Control System (SBCS), which instantly applied to all commercial signage. As a result, many neon signs disappeared seemingly overnight, and today only about 500 neon signs – as opposed to LED – can be spotted around Hong Kong.

Zolima CityMag recently published Neon Is Not Dead, the second volume in their Culture Guide series, which covers the full history of Hong Kong’s neon signs.

Shortly after its release in January, the new guide was discussed at an FCC Club Lunch hosted by Correspondent Governor Jennifer Jett, who sat alongside three of Hong Kong’s most knowledgeable neon experts.

“We didn’t want to be too backwards looking, too nostalgic. We wanted to make the case that neon culture is still alive in Hong Kong, and that it will continue to evolve,” said Christopher DeWolf, author of Neon Is Not Dead.

As Zolima CityMag’s Managing Editor since 2015, DeWolf has covered Hong Kong’s cultural landscape extensively throughout his writing career, with particular focus on the city’s unique urban history.

In line with the book’s title, DeWolf didn’t just want to write about neon as something that’s already gone — or soon will be. Instead, he aimed to highlight neon’s cultural significance that may go unnoticed by the average person in Hong Kong. 

“Generally, I think people weren’t really aware of neon as something that could be historically significant or of heritage value. It wasn’t seen as a very pressing kind of thing to care about. There were other things on the agenda,” he said.

Cardin Chan, a contributor to Neon Is Not Dead, also spoke at the FCC panel, highlighting her efforts in neon conservation. To her, preventing old neon from ending up in a rubbish bin is one part of her job, but changing the conversation around neon is a bigger and more important task she constantly works towards.

“Through trial and error, I tried to actually save not just neon signs, the tangible assets, but also the intangible part of the story,” said Chan, who was the general manager of Tetra Neon Exchange and now runs her own cultural agency, The Indispensible Hong Kong.

Chan said that despite the local government’s initial push to replace neon with LEDs and other types of signage that fall within SBCS regulations, as well as misconceptions around neon, her persistence is leading to a better public understanding of it.

“I try to actually collect stories from the histories, the signs, and also what [artists] have been doing and what they want,” Chan said.

Panel speaker Jive Lau, who is also featured in Neon Is Not Dead, provided an artist’s perspective.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Lau became interested in neon at a young age and eventually made it his career, founding the neon studio Kowloneon. After training with a neon master in Taiwan and returning to Hong Kong, Lau began hosting workshops at Kowloneon and has had his artworks displayed in galleries across Hong Kong and in international arts events. 

As a neon artist, Lau was asked about the future of neon and whether it has already reached its full potential. To him, much more can still be done.

“I can imagine [that] neon can be another dimension. It’s not only the glass form with different interpretations, it’s still going beyond our imagination,” he said.

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

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: