“A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little support.” This famous maxim from Mencius sums up the rise and fall of dynasties through the ages. Today, Donald Trump is a textbook example of the domineering path.
This week, Trump embarked on his first official overseas trip since returning to the White House, visiting three Middle Eastern countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar – and meeting with Syria’s new hard-line leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, along the way.
Trump’s reputation for brashness and strong-arm tactics precedes him, and Middle Eastern countries are falling over themselves to curry favor. The oil-rich Saudis, with their deep pockets, went straight for the wallet: during Trump’s visit, they inked a record-breaking US$142 billion arms deal with the United States, which the White House touts as the largest defense cooperation package in American history, involving ten major US defense contractors. Saudi Arabia also pledged to invest US$600 billion in the US. While Trump’s initial demand was a staggering US$1 trillion, the Saudis’ offer, even if padded with diplomatic niceties, is no small sum.
Qatar, with less financial muscle, tried a different tack. Ahead of Trump’s visit, Qatari officials announced plans to gift a Boeing 747-8 aircraft to serve as the new Air Force One, with the added proposal that Trump could continue to use it even after leaving office. This move sparked a firestorm of controversy in the US, with critics charging the president with accepting improper benefits.
Syria, still poorer, saw its new hard-line leader, Ahmed al-Shara, desperate to see US sanctions lifted. Sharaa’s overture was deeply personal: he announced plans to build a Trump Tower in Damascus, hoping to thaw relations with Washington. Ultimately, Trump met with Sharaa and lavished praise on him as a young, charismatic man with a distinguished past.
Trump’s Middle East tour was, in essence, a shakedown – bullying his way to windfalls, with little regard for appearances.
Meanwhile, as Trump was making his rounds in the Middle East, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu had just wrapped up his own visits to Kuwait and Qatar. What set Lee’s trip apart was the presence of Hong Kong officials and business leaders, and a delegation of mainland Chinese entrepreneurs, all traveling under Hong Kong’s banner to explore commercial opportunities in the Middle East. The Hong Kong delegation received top notch hospitality, staying at Kuwait’s iconic Bayan Palace – a venue reserved for foreign heads of state.
Lee’s mission was all about business, and the results were impressive. Summing up the trip, he highlighted six key achievements:
First, establishing a consensus for cooperation between the Hong Kong government and the governments of Qatar and Kuwait.
Second, signing 59 memoranda of understanding and agreements, laying the groundwork for diversified partnerships.
Third, leveraging Hong Kong’s unique “One Country, Two Systems” status to deepen international engagement and showcase the synergistic strengths of Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Fourth, furthering ties with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to unlock greater business opportunities.
Fifth, deepening mutual understanding and strengthening commercial networks.
Sixth, advancing cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Hong Kong and GCC nations.
Mainland business leaders who joined the trip were effusive in their praise. Wang Chaoyou, chairman of Shanghai Dongchao Technology Development Co., which specializes in environmental and energy-saving solutions, described the visit as highly fruitful. In Qatar, a local company expressed strong interest in collaborating with his firm. The schedule was so packed that the Qatari representative even traveled ahead to the next stop to continue discussions.
Wang also noted that his in-depth conversations with Hong Kong business leaders and government officials gave him a clearer understanding of Hong Kong’s advantages in finance, law, and taxation – all highly attractive to mainland enterprises. His company now plans to establish an overseas R&D headquarters and settlement center in Hong Kong, fully leveraging the city’s global connectivity and professional services.
Hong Kong’s approach is all about partnership, not bullying. The city’s strength lies in genuinely fostering trade and business ties between Hong Kong, the mainland, and Middle Eastern countries – growing together, prospering together, and building each other up. This is a win-win game, not a zero-sum contest.
Bullying is unsustainable. True leadership lies in cooperation – and only by following the way can one travel far.
Lo Wing-hung
Bastille Commentary
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
When a nation openly seeks to recruit spies to steal another country’s secrets, the target state cannot afford to look away. In the latest episode of this ongoing contest, the United States has taken center stage.
On May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States released two new videos, publicly appealing to Chinese citizens to collaborate with the agency and engage in espionage against their own government. The videos mark a strikingly public approach to intelligence recruitment – a move that doubles as psychological warfare.
Last year, the CIA had already published an instructional video in Chinese, teaching Chinese nationals how to use the dark web to contact the agency securely. An anonymous US official puts it, as quoted by The New York Times, the CIA would not have produced the latest videos if the earlier attempt had not yielded results.
John Ratcliffe, newly appointed as CIA director by Donald Trump, has made clear that China is now the agency’s top priority. In a message to CIA personnel last month, Ratcliffe underscored the urgency of rebuilding the agency’s human intelligence network in China, emphasizing the need to recruit Chinese officials to obtain state secrets.
Hong Kong in the Crosshairs
It would be a mistake to assume that these developments have little bearing on Hong Kong. The city remains a focal point for US intelligence-gathering efforts against China. The Hong Kong government has been drafting supplementary regulations to implement the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance for some time. In the face of mounting challenges from the United States and other Western powers, early enactment of such regulations is a matter of prudence.
The new subsidiary legislation under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance recently introduced by the government include provisions allowing the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (OSNS) to designate official premises and prohibit unauthorized disclosure of the office’s investigative work.
Existing Powers Clarified
After the announcement of the new regulations, some online commentators questioned whether this signalled an expansion of the OSNS’s powers. In reality, these authorities already exist; the new rules simply clarify their scope and procedures. Article 55 of the National Security Law stipulates that the OSNS may exercise jurisdiction in serious cases, including those involving foreign interference or when the SAR faces genuine difficulties in enforcement. The office’s authority to take over such cases has always existed and has not been expanded. Given the CIA’s public campaign to recruit Chinese spies, it would be naïve to assume that such scenarios will never arise.
The subsidiary legislation also sets out operational details. Civil servants are required to provide all necessary and reasonable assistance to the OSNS in a timely manner. Any individual must comply with legal instruments issued by the OSNS under Article 57 of the National Security Law; failing to comply, providing false information, or disclosing details of OSNS investigations all constitute criminal offenses. Deliberately obstructing the OSNS, impersonating its personnel, or forging its documents are also criminal acts. These provisions mirror similar offenses in existing Hong Kong law, simply making clear that OSNS personnel receive the same legal protections as other officials when performing their duties. In short, the regulations clarify the scope of authority – not expand it.
Enhancing Protections, Not Restrictions
When the OSNS exercises its duties in Hong Kong, the relevant legal procedures, the scope of protected work, and the obligations of other government agencies to assist must all be clearly defined by subsidiary legislation. Critics often view such regulations as restrictions on the public, but this is a misreading. For example, after the regulations took effect, the SAR government designated six locations, including the Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay, as restricted zones. Some have claimed these “forbidden zones” are close to residential areas and wondered whether one could even speak to people coming out of these places, fearing they might inadvertently break the law. Such concerns are exaggerated.
Designating OSNS offices as prohibited areas is no different from the military barracks found in urban districts, which are also clearly marked as off-limits. There are schools and residential buildings near the Kowloon Tong barracks, yet daily life is unaffected. Ordinary residents do not wander into such places; clear signage simply serves as a reminder not to trespass. This does not increase the risk of legal trouble for citizens – unauthorized entry was already illegal. In fact, the new rules enhance protection by reducing the chance of accidental trespass due to ignorance. Any sensible person should understand: unless you are answering the CIA’s recruitment call, you have no business entering OSNS offices.
The new national security regulations have no impact on law-abiding citizens, but they strike directly at foreign spies. By explicitly criminalizing acts related to the OSNS’s exercise of its powers, foreign agents caught red-handed can no longer exploit legal loopholes by claiming that OSNS personnel are not protected by local law or that they can openly defy authorities.
Lo Wing-hung
