Humphrey Hawksley

Author, commentator and broadcaster

Taiwan-China – a Flashpoint Once More

KINMEN, TAIWAN – February 2017

It was not only Beijing, but also Taipei that was relieved by the U.S. president’s decision to continue to policy of one China, respecting Beijing’s insistence that any country that recognises China cannot recognise Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan. After years of being an unresolved by settled situation, Donald Trump indicated that the U.S. might want closer ties with Taiwan and the island suddenly because a flashpoint again that could redefine America’s relationship with Beijing. At present, Taiwan has a close relationship with China and after a short ferry ride from the Chinese mainland to a Taiwanese island, Humphrey Hawksley sees why. […]

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Lessons of the opium wars

Humphrey Hawksley reports from the Opium War museum in southern China on the impact that Britain’s invasion in 1989 has on Beijing’s foreign policy today. Lessons of the opium wars

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Taiwan-China

  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

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America’s Naval War College

Humphrey Hawksley reports from America’s Naval War College which is preparing  for possible wars with China and Russia and working out a strategy that might avoid them.

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Vietnam’s fishing war of the South China Sea

Vietnamese fishermen say they are being attacked by China with increasing regularity. Their boats have been rammed, equipment broken and crewmen beaten up. Vietnam accuses Beijing of trying to force them out of the South China Sea. Humphrey Hawksley and photographer Poulomi Basu went out on a boat with them. Beaten up by China for going fishing

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On Little Diomede, American-Russian border

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 […]

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Living on America’s Border with Russia

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President Obama is due to visit Alaska on Monday (August 31st) for an international conference on climate change and the future of the Arctic. High on the agenda is Russia’s military build-up there. With sea ice melting, America’s border with Russia has become more vulnerable and the Ukraine crisis has worsened relations. At their closest […]

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World Peace Begins in the Bedroom

Frosty relations between Russia and West and the rise of China in Asia have brought to some worries about a global or regional war with academics and specialists convening around the world to discuss how it might be prevented. One recent conference with experts from Europe and the Unites States was held in the South […]

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Tea

The global tea industry is worth $20 billion a year, but on India’s tea estates millions of workers and their families suffer from hunger, disease, human rights abuse and exploitation. Marooned in an overgrown tea garden

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