United Kingdom

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised Hongkongers “one of the biggest changes in our visa system in British history” if Beijing pushes through the national security law.  In an op-ed published in the South China Morning Post and The Times of London on Wednesday, Johnson acknowledged that “many people in Hong Kong fear their way of life … is under threat” since the National People’s Congress proposed the law last month. It was his first direct message to the former British colony amid the recent political furor. “If China proceeds to justify their fears, then Britain could not in good conscience shrug our shoulders and walk away; instead, we will honor our obligations and provide

The new coronavirus has killed over 200,000 people and nearly ground the global economy to a halt. The next ripple effect could be a new Cold War, this time between China and the United States. Although it remains unclear when and how the pandemic will end, Beijing is preparing for an international backlash of blame over the disease outbreak and appears ready to push back, according to analysts. Chinese authorities have kick-started an internal process to solicit advice from think tanks, academics and others on how to deal with an increasingly adversarial global environment, said a government adviser who declined to give his name. At the same time, the devastating human toll and suffering c

As soon as I walked into the train carriage, a whole family packed up their belongings and shuffled nervously to the next one. It happened on a train from Oxford to London earlier this month. I am an ordinary postgraduate student but for the fact, extraordinary in these times, that I’m Chinese. As the coronavirus outbreak spreads around the world, I have been experiencing a different epidemic – one of racism and xenophobia. I felt unwelcome. For the first time in years, I was self-conscious of my status as the person of color in a white space, the alien in a culture whose values I share. I expected a better Britain than the one in which two of my Hong Kong friends, walking on a Manchester st

Controversy over a British royal using his pedigree to sell milk in China has erupted into a race-related scandal after celebrity anchor Piers Morgan mocked the Chinese language on live television. Peter Phillips, the 42-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth, was initially criticized after he appeared sipping a glass of milk in a commercial by Shanghai-based Bright Food Group, China’s second-largest food conglomerate. In the ad shown on Dragon TV, Phillips boasts of being raised on Jersey milk from the herd at Windsor Castle before savoring the milk in a room that looks like an English aristocratic home with a view over Shanghai. Piers Morgan, host of the ITV show Good Morning Britain, then f

A six-year-old British girl from south London in the UK found a Christmas card with a message allegedly from foreign prisoners in China. The sender of the message claimed that prisoners were being forced to work against their will in the Shanghai Qingpu prison. The holiday card, which is among those sold to raise money for charity, was bought from British supermarket chain Tesco. The retailer said it has halted production at a Chinese factory after the discovery and launched an investigation into Zheijiang Yunguang Printing, one of its suppliers located about 60 miles from the prison named in the message.