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Winston Mok
Winston Mok, a private investor, was previously a private equity investor. He held senior regional positions with EMP Global and GE Capital, and was a McKinsey consultant and initiated its China practice. Winston obtained his bachelor and master degrees from MIT.
Winston Mok, a private investor, was previously a private equity investor. He held senior regional positions with EMP Global and GE Capital, and was a McKinsey consultant and initiated its China practice. Winston obtained his bachelor and master degrees from MIT.
While recent protests were triggered by irregularities in the national medical entrance exam, the quality of education more broadly warrants attention.
Beyond GPU supremacy, America’s greatest asset lies in its leverage over its allies’ critical technologies and capacities.
Without Chinese suppliers on the ground, potential Japanese investments will struggle to reach the scale or speed the moment demands.
Individuals choose the university and course but the state sets the collective outcome, steering human capital towards development goals.
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As the relevance of anti-China groupings such as the Quad and Aukus fades, Beijing and its neighbours have more room for dialogue.
Summit addressed the top and bottom layers – geopolitical framing and trade mechanics – but left the strategic middle layer largely implicit.
The impasse over the Strait of Hormuz is a long chess game across multiple arenas, not easily solved by a naval blockade or a mere poker bluff.
Sandwiched between Iran and Israel, oil-rich transport hubs like the UAE now face the fragility of their newly built economic prosperity.
Much like China’s rare earths dominance held off Trump’s trade war, Iran is using the Strait of Hormuz to outdo Trump in economic warfare.
To shift the mindset of local policymakers away from growth at all costs, China must also reset incentives and fiscal priorities.
While recent events highlight the risks in volatile states, China’s position in Latin America is rooted in deep trade and investment links with the region’s largest economies.
As migrant workers head home for the Lunar New Year break, it is a good time to reflect on how the loneliness that has gripped Chinese society can be alleviated.
To truly harness their potential, countries across the continent seeking to industrialise must develop education and infrastructure in tandem.
The Netherlands’ pragmatic approach – separating commercial interests from geopolitical alignment – once made it a friend to all.
What has become evident is that the US needs other countries to agree to its plans and help enforce them, while China is strong enough to act on its own.
China’s export control regime on rare earths isn’t retaliation for recent US restrictions – it’s a response to overall US policy.
Even as the US leverages its political power to market its oil and gas, the rest of the world is surging ahead on an unstoppable green transition.
Industrial policy, alongside tech and steel support, made shipbuilding in Japan, South Korea and China competitive. Can the US do it too?
India has shot up in innovation rankings with venture capital as a new metric. More could be achieved if India and China joined forces.
Rather than limit Chinese investment and reduce reliance on China, India should leverage Chinese know-how to become more competitive.
It may be easier for selected countries in the Brics grouping to collaborate to counter the US than for Tokyo, Seoul and Brussels to do so.
Fraying ties with the US offer the EU a chance to rechart its course, negotiate pragmatically with China and improve its bargaining position with Trump.
As Japan and South Korea struggled to reach trade deals with the US, China’s economic leverage offers an example for the rest of the region.
The world is more resilient and energy-efficient than in the 1970s, yet broader structural vulnerabilities persist and could hit Asia hard.
The Trump administration’s war on international students need not impede efforts to create research platforms that transcend borders.
Americans might have to make their own clothes, and industries dependent on imports – from aerospace to pharmaceuticals – could collapse.
A scheme to devalue the dollar proposed by one of the US president’s economic advisers should alarm both Americans and the wider world.
Tariffs won’t shrink the inequalities in US society that result from globalisation. A better safety net, starting with healthcare, would.
The US president is interested in making America bigger. But human talent, not land, is the asset most worth investing in.
