For Greg Torode's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Chinese military experts are discussing the conflict in private chat groups, offering their takes on Western involvement in Ukraine and Russia's perceived failings, scholars say.
Former police officer John Lee, has signaled his intention to contest an election for the city's top job.
China has developed armed drones, guided weapons and battlefield communications, systems that might help Russia fill gaps that are being exposed on the Ukraine front.
The Ukraine-China relationship has been under increased pressure, but the current war could sever a link that helped Beijing modernize its army.
Hong Kong has stepped up anti-coronavirus measures, including plans for mass testing buttressed by equipment, testing vehicles and personnel from the mainland.
The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.
The meeting has been described as Beijing's most assertive move yet in its attempts to influence Hong Kong’s diocese, which is answerable to the Vatican.
The five-judge panel unanimously rejected an earlier ruling that people could be criminally liable for rioting or illegal assembly without being physically present.
When Beijing's national security law was passed, senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials repeatedly stressed that it would not be retroactively applied.
The city's judges symbolize a core condition of its return to Chinese rule: the right to a fair trial and equality under the law, administered by an independent judiciary.
