Inside Out &amp; Outside In

Outside In | ‘Trump-proofing’ is distracting the world from far graver challenges

15 Nov 2024 - 4:30PMvideocam

China-EU relations

Outside In | Italian fuss about China’s tiny tomato exports has bigger implications

1 Nov 2024 - 5:32PMvideocam

Outside In | Nature needs saving but where will the West find the money?

However leaders feel about biodiversity and global warming, there is almost no money where their mouths are.

25 Oct 2024 - 6:51PMvideocam

A ranger reaches out towards female northern white rhino Najin, one of the last two northern white rhinos on the planet, in her enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on August 23, 2019. Photo: AP

Outside In | For Hong Kong’s poorest, cheapflation hits harder than shrinkflation

Worryingly, prices are rising faster for cheap products than premium items as AI boosts retailers’ dynamic pricing abilities.

18 Oct 2024 - 6:27PMvideocam

Outside In | It’s been grim for Hongkongers. Lee’s policy address must address that

After almost four years of adversity, the fragile economy needs support and many remain stressed and sceptical about prospects.

11 Oct 2024 - 4:30PMvideocam

Millionaires and billionaires

Inside Out | Port workers’ stance against automation will only hurt US competitiveness

Anxiety remains over the contentious and emotional issue – described as tantamount to inviting Chinese spies into US ports – with union negotiations set to resume in January.

6 Oct 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents roughly 45,000 workers, protest outside Maher Terminal, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, US, on October 1. Photo: Reuters

Outside In | Why global tax on super rich is least bad option to tackle crises

Amid the current wave of adversity, the wealthiest among us must acknowledge they are obliged to dig deeper into their pockets.

13 Sep 2024 - 4:30PMvideocam

Diplomacy

Inside Out | China-Africa summit a fitting showcase of Global South’s rise

The deals sealed and friendships renewed at FOCAC summit underline China’s role as a prime force of global power rebalancing.

8 Sep 2024 - 4:32PMvideocam

Outside In | Can Hong Kong bring its ‘ghost bridge’ back to life?

With the new Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link boosting prospects for the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong must move fast to improve transport links with nearby cities.

6 Sep 2024 - 4:30PM

The Zhuhai section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is pictured on June 12, 2020 in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

Inside Out | Big Oil threatening to turn Cop29 into fight over industry’s future

Opec and top oil firms are fiercely opposing efforts to reduce oil and gas demand, seeing economic doom if climate goals are given priority.

1 Sep 2024 - 4:30PMvideocam

Asia’s largest carbon capture, utilisation and storage facility for the coal-fired power generation sector, developed by China Energy, is seen in operation in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, on June 2, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Outside In | The world is speeding to hell in a shopping cart

We need to move away from consumerism and find better measures of economic progress – if we want to avoid a climate catastrophe

24 Aug 2024 - 6:03AMvideocam

Outside In | Amid national security angst, US can’t see its biggest threat is at home

Paranoia over grave and imminent dangers all around is distracting America from the serious risks of domestic terrorism and political violence.

16 Aug 2024 - 9:24PMvideocam

US immigration

Inside Out | Fear of migrants needlessly inflaming tensions around global elections

International migration is a force for good that developed economies need, despite the protests of xenophobes and populists.

11 Aug 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

A refugee stands in front of a tent at a camp inside the UN-controlled buffer zone that divides the north part of the Turkish-occupied area from the south Greek Cypriots at the Aglantzia area in Nicosia, Cyprus, on August 9. In a world where developed economies face dire demographic challenges, international migrants are likely to play a key role in continued economic growth. Photo: AP

Women and gender

Outside In | As world population shrinks, prepare for seismic changes

The UN projects a drop in the global population by 2100 as longer life expectancy and migration shape communities amid a collapse in fertility.

10 Aug 2024 - 5:04AMvideocam

Children play with spinning chairs at a shopping mall in Beijing. China is one of 63 countries and areas with declining populations. Photo: AP

Inside Out | If Trump wins, US threats to global trade will no longer be just bark

In particular, Trump’s exotic plan to replace income tax with universal export tariffs threatens catastrophe.

14 Jul 2024 - 9:30PMvideocam

US-China relations

Outside In | It’s time American China strategists accepted some inconvenient truths

The Council on Foreign Relations’ China-focused project could be a chance to rethink flawed assumptions underpinning the rules-based order.

12 Jul 2024 - 9:14PMvideocam

Outside In | Still too soon for Hong Kong to declare its economy out of the woods

True, no one has ever bet against Hong Kong and won. But it would be a foolhardy administration that underestimates the challenges still faced.

6 Jul 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

Causeway Bay on July 2. There is talk of a recovery in the second half of the year but it remains far off and green shoots remain fragile. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong environmental issues

Inside Out | Why US presidential debate should horrify proponents of democracy

The first US presidential debate was alarming not just for US voters but for anyone who cares about the integrity of our political systems.

30 Jun 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

Outside In | Rat problems say more about city life than about the rats themselves

Far from being a particularity in Hong Kong, rodent problems are a fixture of urban environments the world over.

29 Jun 2024 - 3:01PMvideocam

Technology

Inside Out | China-made AI sexbots: the next national security risk for US, EU?

The rapid emergence of AI has sparked concerns about its attendant risks, and few sectors exemplify that more than the production of sex robots.

23 Jun 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

The head of an AI-enhanced sex robot is displayed at the Shenzhen Atall Intelligent Robot Technology headquarters. As AI technology becomes more advanced, its use in sex robots is raising concerns about issues of ethics and consent. Photo: EPA-EFE

Outside In | Humans need a new relationship with fire to control global warming

Rather than end wildfires, humanity’s challenge is to restrain destructive fire and reduce the amount of combustion driving climate change.

21 Jun 2024 - 8:30PMvideocam

A firefighter tries to extinguish a fire burning in the Koropi suburb near Athens on June 19. Scores of Greek firefighters and water-bombing aircraft were trying to contain a large wildfire on the fringes of Athens that forced authorities to issue evacuation orders for two nearby settlements. Photo: AP