Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
The United States hierarchy is downright racist! How dare vice-president JD Vance call the Chinese people “peasants” in such a derogatory tone?
The arrogance of Vance emerged when he started accusing Haitian refugees of stealing and eating pets in Springfield in September last year. This was widely disputed. Then, he was involved in a very public slinging match with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House in front of the world’s media on March 1. He demanded that Zelensky should be thankful for the help the US has given Ukraine. Zelensky said he had, many times.
The Vance outburst against the Chinese erupted during a Fox & Friends TV interview when he was speaking in support of Trump’s tariff measures. Vance said, "We borrow money from the Chinese peasants to buy things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
How rude and disrespectful he is of the US’s largest trading partner. Although married to an Indian woman, his racism is reflected through his arrogance. Vance and his cronies in the White House are politicians, not bureaucrats. They go for sound bites and media exposure to boost their image.
He is an embarrassment to the American public, with practically all mainstream media denouncing his comments. He is, after all, the Vice President of the United States of America, a position that commands respect.
His comments are reverberating around the world and illustrate just how arrogant US officials, from the president down, are. This is how they teach their followers to disrespect their foreign neighbors.
There are about 48 million Chinese residing in the US, a country already shrouded in racial discrimination. Comments of degradation from Vance will not help social discord within the country, and only an apology from Vance or the president can help alleviate the fear of abuse.
The popular US news website BuzzFeed published a report titled "People are calling out JD Vance for his offensive comment about the US borrowing money from 'Chinese peasants,' and it's shocking even for him," stating in a now-viral clip that Vance discussed the Trump administration's foreign trade policies with China by directly insulting Chinese people.
The report commented, "If there's one thing Vice President JD Vance is going to do, it's to embarrass Americans everywhere."
Fox News reported that when asked about Vance’s comments on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, "To hear words that lack knowledge and respect like those uttered by this vice president is both surprising and kind of lamentable.”
Lin said Vance’s comments produced reactions from the public in China, who were outraged by Vance's actions, and added that Vance’s statements obviously had a certain dose of hatred and arrogance, according to South Africa’s Financial World. In addition to China, many countries around the world are disappointed by the behavior of the US vice president, said the paper.
It added that most of the Chinese population emphasizes that Vance should be banned from visiting the country. “After such statements, it is certain that the US vice president is an undesirable figure among the Chinese population. Whether he will retract such statements or explain what he meant remains to be seen.”
The Chinese people are a hard-working lot and have been recognized worldwide for their ability to produce first-class goods and services at a reasonable price. It is difficult for the West to understand the Chinese work culture, which is steeped in tradition and innovation. The work-life balance varies, but dedication is common. Harmony and teamwork are prized, with a deep respect for authority. Building relationships (Guanxi) is crucial for success, and diligence is a hallmark.
This is something that Vance and his cronies fail to understand. They are not peasants!
Vance’s outburst came when trying, unsuccessfully, to explain Trump’s international tariff penalties, which in China’s case can reach 104 percent on all China goods imported into the US.
China’s total exports last year reached US$3.575 trillion worth of goods around the world. Some 14.7 percent of that went to the US ($524.9 billion), and 8.1 percent went to Hong Kong (second place) with a value of $291.4 billion. China’s imports from the US last year had dropped to $143.54 billion.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
When Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po decided to pour $1.2 billion into sports promotion, he was investing in Hong Kong’s youth to lead the city into a secure and bright future.
There is no doubt that sport develops the mind to positive thinking. And that is what is needed among Hong Kong’s youth.
Chan’s cash input into the Arts and Sports Development Fund will be used to strengthen training for team sports athletes, improve the professional standards of coaches, as well as supporting and exploring more diverse and higher-level sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong.
This injection of funds will also enable organizations to develop and promote sport to international levels to attract tourism by staging major events like the Rugby Sevens and professional golf and tennis matches.
In Hong Kong there is virtually no graffiti, as our youth are too preoccupied with study or work to mess about with vandalism, unlike in the west where buildings and subways are defaced by vandals with too much idle time on their hands.
Hong Kong youth are keen sports participants and through those activity come discipline. Thus, no graffiti.
During his budget speech, Chan praised Hong Kong athletes for having achieved outstanding results on the international stage. Last year, local athletes achieved historic results in the National Games, winning nine gold, two silver and eight bronze medals. With this in mind, Chan allocated more resources to proactively promote sports in the community, support elite sports, maintain Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events, enhance professionalism in sports, and develop sports as an industry.
However, their minds are still young and subject to exploitation by undesirable forces as we learned in 2019 when the US Department of State’s National Endowment for Development (NED) infiltrated primary and secondary schools as well a university graduates and convinced them to rebel against Hong Kong and seek its independence. There was a price to pay for the young rebels as well as the community, which suffered losses in property and lives.
The NED is still here waiting to strike again when the time is ripe, and Hong Kong will be prepared for such an onslaught.
The minds of our youth must be attuned to recognizing the good and the bad. They must be able to recognize that the propaganda uttered by NED is false and must be repelled. Primary school children can become intensely focused on peer relationships, which means team dynamics can be a powerful vehicle for learning conflict resolution. And this is where sports comes in.
Playing sports teaches far more than how to throw a ball or run faster. It builds a specific set of mental, emotional, and social skills that show up in classrooms, careers, and relationships long after the final whistle. The lessons range from obvious ones like teamwork to less visible changes in how the brain handles stress, makes decisions, and stays focused under pressure.
Throughout their adolescent years young players grow from being mere team members to team leaders. They learn as a team and the importance that has on their future life.
Research on athlete leadership development shows that effective team captains learn specific skills through their roles: clear communication, emotional control, tactical decision-making, and the ability to make sure every teammate has a voice. These aren’t traits people are born with. They’re practiced and refined through the daily demands of being on a team.
Not all sports teach the same things in the same way. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Psychology found a clear split: team sports primarily build psychological resilience through social support, while individual sports like swimming, tennis, or track build them through self-efficacy, your belief in your own ability to handle challenges.
Sports don’t just work your body. They sharpen three core mental abilities that an psychologist grouped the term as an “executive function”: working memory (holding and juggling information in your head), impulse control (resisting a snap reaction to make a better choice), and cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks or strategies on the fly). A meta-analysis published in Brain Sciences found large improvements in all three areas among children and adolescents who participated in sports-based programs.
With a pure mind developed by sports, our youth today, with support from the government, will lead Hong Kong into a futuristic world planned by their forefathers and shielding us from external forces which threaten our existence.
