The stifling by China of democratic development didn’t prevent Hong Kong making one of the few successful transitions from Third World poverty to prosperity and modernisation, not only in Asia, but anywhere. On present trends, it looks set to make the journey in reverse

That Donald Trump walked away from his summit with Kim Jong-Un should come as no surprise, as David Rowe explains in his backgrounder from the just-released March edition of Quadrant. For Pyongyang's hardheads, putting the economy first would be like Britain embarking on the welfare state before defeating Hitler.

China’s regional expansion is coming at a growing security cost […]