Journalism

The United Kingdom’s full separation from the European Union, due to begin on Jan. 1, is bound to be bumpy. But by shining a spotlight on Asia, London could address accusations that its foreign policy is adrift while underpinning its interests in a region where it has a chance of early success. With care, the […]

Dust had barely settled on the American presidential election when 16Asian leaders signed a trade deal encompassing a third of the world’s population in an area that accounts for 30 per cent of the global economic output. Although promoted as a pan-Asian initiative, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is regarded as being Beijing-led. With […]

TVE Difficult Dialogues: Hidden Stories, Impact Journalism – talking about reporting human rights abuse in global supply chains such as chocolate, textiles and tea.  

Humphrey Hawksley on a new book that plumbs the historic foundations underlying China’s distinct identity and current conduct. Polarising rhetoric between Beijing and Washington is expected to heighten in these months leading up to November’s US presidential election.  Already there is a plethora of books by experts delving into China’s military, its modern communism, its intent […]

Did you know America was once one presidential signature away from nuking China?
A little known nail-biting story from Asian Waters in this video explainer. […]

Dragon Fire, a novel by British author Humphrey Hawksley, written 20 years ago depicted a war erupting between China, India and Pakistan, drawing many other countries and then escalating into a nuclear catastrophe. In the wake of the recent India-China border standoff that resulted in the killing of 20 Indian soldiers, Hawksley, a former BBC […]

With its unusually blunt warning to China, accusing it of exploiting COVID-19 to undermine European democracy, the EU has shown a long overdue change of mindset after years of jumbled, divisive and largely reactive policies in dealing with Beijing. The European Commission said that China, together with Russia, was responsible for an unprecedented wave of […]

In Centralia, the writer and photographer Poulomi Basu gives us a panorama of Chhattisgarh, a little-known area of central India, through photographs, poetry, biographical portraits and snatches of dialogue. Chhattisgarh is one of the states that make up what is known as the Red Corridor, a region running up the east of India in which Maoist insurgents […]

Humphrey Hawksley’s work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent. He has been expelled from Sri Lanka, had death threats from several extreme regimes and traced Graham Greene’s footsteps in Sierra Leone. His passion for borders has influenced his writing with the Cold War and espionage prominent themes in […]

Europe’s navies are returning to Asia in a move that could either inflame or help keep tensions under control. Britain and France have deployed warships to the contested South China Sea and announced that more are on their way. For the West it is a natural culmination of Donald Trump’s trade war, the European Union […]

China’s October commemoration of the Communist Party’s 70 years in power was extravagant, artistic and disciplined. It ushered in the next decade with verve reminiscent of that displayed at the 60th anniversary ten years earlier, but with one significant difference. Back then, Beijing had just hosted the lavish 2008 Olympic Games with panache and style, […]

Once frozen wasteland, the wild, inhospitable Arctic is becoming a contest across new frontiers. Melting ice is opening shipping routes and releasing energy resources, prompting a scramble for control and access. Competing businesses race to secure their advantage while rivals prepare for what could become a new theatre. President Vladimir Putin in his quest to […]

Long menaced by its larger neighbor, Taiwan’s efforts to shift away from its reliance on China by increasing trade instead with other regional partners are beginning to pay both economic and political dividends. Known as the New Southbound Policy, the government of President Tsai Ing-wen is encouraging and subsidizing Taiwanese companies to move out of […]

The re-election success of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes at a unique time for his country because Western democracies are continuing their inward naval-gazing and the world stage is crying out for new players with bold ideas. In his first term, Modi blazed an international trail through the sheer force of his personality and […]

Recent elections in India and Europe, societies with a range of cultures and levels of wealth, have provided further proof that the concept of a global society, with shared values, is retreating into one dominated by sovereignty and the nation state. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his Hindu nationalist ticket, won an even bigger […]

There is much swirling debate at the moment about the rise of China, the cohesion of Asia and the writing of an alternative world order. Whether the threat comes from North Korea’s nuclear weapons or stealth espionage through the Chinese tech giant Huawei, the global commentariat is having a field day. Their arguments range from […]

What are we to make of Russia? A major player on the world stage undoubtedly, but what really is Putin power? And is he being unfairly painted as the bogeyman of the east? David Foster hosted Humphrey on a TRT Roundtable discussion together with Ben Nimmo, who investigates Russian disinformation campaigns at the Atlantic Council, Alexander […]

Once a confident nation that ran an empire on which the sun never set, Great Britain is today a fractious place, split within families, villages, Parliament and from cabinet post to cabinet post. Meanwhile, many in Asia are shaking their heads, wondering what is going on and how much they should care about or plan […]

China’s rapid expansion into the South China Sea has been a global flashpoint since 2012, after a confrontation with the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal fishing reef. However, tensions over the disputed territories extend well into the previous century. And China’s expansion is rooted in its understanding of its 5000 year old history. As China […]

A quarter of a century ago, an 18-year-old American student living in Singapore was sentenced to six strokes of the cane for writing graffiti on cars and stealing road signs. The United States protested the sentence’s severity, arguing Michael Fay’s punishment was too harsh for a teenage prank with no violent crime committed. Fay’s case […]

The scheduled visit by the U.S. secretaries of defense and state to India on Sept. 6 highlights Washington’s latest attempt to create a strategic Asian alliance strong enough to counter the growing influence of China. But is the unformulated plan for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” — promoted by officials from President Donald Trump down […]

Two years ago, China and Russia issued a joint declaration with the aim of throwing out an open challenge to the current US-led world order. Coming after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and a court ruling against Beijing’s claim to the South China Sea, the two governments announced bluntly in June 2016 that they would enhance […]

After months of planning that required the most choreographed of diplomatic skills, Britain hosted a lavish visit in April for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed by a summit for the 53-member Commonwealth, a large international grouping that comprises a bygone colonial power and those it had once colonised. At first glance, not much […]

OSLO: In 2016, two seemingly unrelated incidents unfolded in remote and vulnerable parts of Europe. One view might suggest the events, efficiently swept away with quiet diplomacy, counted for little. Another considers the incidents as demonstrating Russia’s and China’s determination to test the outer boundaries of European and American resolve. There may be nothing new […]

With a lot of fanfare, China has expanded its flagship Belt and Road Initiative to a vast swath of new territory far removed from the Middle Kingdom — the Arctic. A detailed white paper last month outlined plans for a “Polar Silk Road” that would link Asia to Europe across the frozen far north. As has […]

In the early 1990s, as remnants of the Berlin Wall were transformed into a tourist attraction, there was a near-unchallenged presumption that governance, through the democratic will of the people, would underpin our future. Germany, once divided by two opposing ideologies, united under the democratic banner and countries that had mostly lived under Soviet control […]

LONDON: Disasters dominate the news agenda, with recent dystopian images of hurricanes raging in the Atlantic, earthquake-fractured streets in Mexico, apocalyptic flooding in South Asia and burning villages of Rohingya Muslims in scenes reminiscent of Cambodia’s killing fields. Advancing technology has changed how disasters are reported, but what attracts attention and how we react remain […]

  How China handles it’s renegade province of Taiwan will not only determine its own ambition of reunification but will also be watched closely by the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. Humphrey Hawksley reports from the once heavily militarised Taiwanese island of Kinmen. China Has Chance to Undercut US by Wooing Taiwan

Britain is putting down new markers on the global stage as it prepares to leave the European Union. But can it risk annoying China if it’s to succeed. Humphrey Hawksley – UK’s nuclear plant imbroglio fuels post-Brexit debate

Two islands in the Bering Straits, one Russian, one American, are barely two miles apart. Only a few military observation posts remain on the Russian island, but a community of Eskimos lives on the US island. After the Cold War they hoped to resume regular contact with Russian relatives – but now the chances seem […]

India’s economy is the 10th largest in the world, but millions of the country’s workers are thought to be held in conditions little better than slavery. One story – which some may find disturbing – illustrates the extreme violence that some are subjected to. They tried to escape and were punished with an axe. Punished by […]

China’s recent decision to force a showdown with Vietnam in waters around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea tempers an argument that has gained momentum in recent months — that is, with the growing assertiveness of Russia in Ukraine and China in East Asia, a weakening U.S. is being challenged by increasingly confident […]

Humphrey Hawksley reports from the brick kilns of India where more than two million people feed the booming construction sector and economic miracle by working in conditions campaigners describe as ‘slavery.’ Their work goes into building the skyscrapers, offices and call centres, but the bricks they make are now being condemned as blood bricks. India […]

Humphrey Hawksley goes to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to investigate the link between minerals, war and business. These are the raw materials used in our every day lives for computers, phones and household appliances. Humphrey asks if a little-known American law might force a change to how multi-national companies do business in […]

For years, the chocolate industry knew their raw products were farmed in unacceptable conditions – using slavery and children. Humphrey Hawksley first exposed the cocoa scandal more than a decade ago. Returning again to the Ivory Coast, he finds children taken from their parents and forced to harvest cocoa with little evidence that chocolate makers […]