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James Griffiths

@jamestgriffiths.com
11K followers 412 following 405 posts

🇨🇦 Asia correspondent, @theglobeandmail.com 📚 Author, ‘The Great Firewall of China’ and ‘Speak Not’ 📍 Hong Kong 🔒 jgriffiths.852

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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 22/09/2026
Love to attract international investment and restore business confidence with comments like: "The evil of soft resistance lies in the fact that you may not know it is evil." hongkongfp.com/2026/09/21/s...
hongkongfp.com
'Soft resistance' is the 'most malicious' threat to nat. security in HK - sec. chief
Hong Kong's security chief has named "soft resistance" the "most malicious" theat to national security in the city.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 18/09/2026
zheng he also went to the moon first www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
scmp.com
Could Chinese explorers have settled New Zealand before the Maori?
Mainstream academics and Maori groups voice scepticism, but researchers say acknowledging lesser-known history could alter national identity.
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Doug Saunders @dougsaunders.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
To those who say it’s not worth building ties with Europe because it’s “on the decline”
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 14/09/2026
HKJA says Security Sec. Chris Tang's criticism around most recent leadership election may have driven 10% spike in membership renewals and major boost in merch sales. Similarly, when I was on ExCo, venues dropping out forced fundraising auction online, we ended up blowing through our target.
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
He seems rather lauding of Cheng Li-wun, while being entirely unaware of how she is controversial even within her own party, and probably unelectable, to the extent that you hear a lot of chatter within the KMT about how she may cost them 2028
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
China is itself curiously absent from his argument. Once again, Shuster is preoccupied with the grandeur of elite political actors. So, too, then with the KMT. Shuster never interrogates any of his KMT sources' claims, he just takes them at face value
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
To this extent, he speaks of the domestic impact from the death toll of a war scenario for the US and Taiwan, but never China. The CCP's current leadership could, after all, squander its historical legacy and face removal through a failed invasion
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Not a single mention of the military purges and what they mean or embarassments like the Rocket Force found to have replaced fuel with water.
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
In a game in which all parties–the US, Taiwan, and China–seek to cover up their weaknesses and project strength, Shuster only questions the US and Taiwan, but takes everything China tells him at face value. And so China is only discussed in terms of shock and awe
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New Bloom @newbloommag.net · 10/09/2026
"When Will the American Commentariat Give Up on Asking When Taiwan Will Give Up?" by @brianhioe.bsky.social
newbloommag.net
When Will the American Commentariat Give Up on Asking When Taiwan Will Give Up? | New Bloom Magazine
“Will Taiwan Just Give Up?” by Simon Shuster in The Atlantic, is the latest article in the heady genre of articles by white men who visit Taiwan for a few days and decide that they have the final…
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 04/09/2026
Chicago followers: I will be giving a talk at Northwestern later this month, details below (you can also join online if you should so please). events.humanitix.com/inside-conte...
events.humanitix.com
Inside Contemporary Asia: Politics, Power, & Information | Buffett Conversation with James Griffiths
The Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs generates new knowledge about pressing global challenges and promising solutions for addressing them.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 28/08/2026
Hi, I'm looking to hire a freelance reporter/fixer in Manila ASAP to do some work for @theglobeandmail.com. If that is you or you know of someone, please email jgriffiths@globeandmail.com. Thanks!
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
extremely good FOIA denial i just got
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 18/08/2026
Last month I went out with Father Valan, a Catholic priest who ministers to seafarers, on his regular visits to ships in Hong Kong harbour, including one ship abandoned by its owner, whose Indonesian crew are currently fighting to recover their stolen wages and go home.
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Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 @ryanhk.blue · 10/08/2026
It’s also noteworthy how Tang is clearly using the phrase “mainstream media” (主流媒體) here not as it is understood internationally but as it is used in the mainland: not to describe outlets that are widely read or disseminated but those that reliably follow official thinking.
chinamediaproject.org
Mainstream Media 主流媒体 - China Media Project
In a Western context, the term “mainstream media” is most often understood to refer to established, traditional forms of communication — such as mass-circulation newspapers and magazines, television a...
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Jarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The Hong Kong Journalists Association was started in 1968 by two Australian journalists - Jack and Margaret Spackman. To see pro-Beijing media turning to xenophobia in this cartoon - demonising ‘journalists from foreign media’ - sullies the reputation of Hong Kong as a ‘Asia’s world city’.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 10/08/2026
Needless to say, this isn't a "black box" election for actual members of HKJA, candidates are simply not exposed to the harassment and employer pressure that resulted in the very situation Tang claims to abhor. Tang himself instigated much of that pressure in past via repeated attacks on the JA.
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InterSecLab @interseclab.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
We are honored to be shortlisted for the IJ4EU Impact Awards 2026 | @ecpmf.bsky.social, for The Great Firewall Export: China's Censorship Technology Goes Global. A cross-border investigation by eight organizations. What we found, in a thread. 🧵 #IJ4EUImpactAward
Wide banner on a beige-to-pink background with cascading green binary code and scattered red Chinese characters for censorship terms such as wall, censor, delete, monitor and block. The IJ4EU Impact Award logo sits in the top left. Below it, the title "THE GREAT FIREWALL EXPORT:" in white on black bars, a red rule, and the subtitle "China's Censorship Technology Goes Global". The title repeats in italics above the byline: "By InterSecLab, Amnesty International, Justice For Myanmar, Paper Trail Media, The Globe and Mail, the Tor Project, DER STANDARD and Follow The Money". On the right, a collage of the investigation's news articles and report covers from Der Standard, Follow the Money, The Globe and Mail, Tor, InterSecLab's "The Internet Coup", Justice for Myanmar's "Silk Road of Surveillance" and Amnesty International's "Shadows of Control". A badge in the bottom right reads "Shortlisted, IJ4EU Impact Award 2026".
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 05/08/2026
"Perhaps I just live an amazingly uncomplicated life ... but I can assure you that making reminders for myself and scheduling my calendar and like, organizing my screenshots is not the massive time suck your average AI guy on X thinks it is." www.deezlinks.com/p/the-ai-fou...
deezlinks.com
the AI founders’ utterly unimaginative use cases
Also, might you be brave enough to run The Atlantic Book Club?
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 29/07/2026
Great old ad I found in a 1931 edition of the New York Times:
Ad reads: "What a FOOL he is! A crank about his Budget and careless of his GUMS."
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 20/07/2026
China "is becoming more willing to be seen," by tourists who will be easily impressed and won't look too hard. At same time Beijing is introducing visa-free travel for many, it's also expelling foreign journalists and heavily restricting those that remain. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"But while the visa-free experiment will not resolve strategic rivalry or erase disputes over trade, technology and security at a time when many countries are raising barriers, Beijing has chosen, in one important domain, to lower them. China is no longer simply trying to explain itself better. It is becoming more willing to be seen."
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 13/07/2026
FCCC report points to growing pressure beyond China’s long-established political red lines. Almost half of respondents said new topics had become more sensitive over the past year, including the economy, demographics, trade tensions and emerging technologies. drive.google.com/file/d/1H9z8...
drive.google.com
2025 FCCC Report The New Abnormal.pdf
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 07/07/2026
Wong "has been in custody since November 2020 and was previously expected to be released as early as 2027." www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...
scmp.com
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong expected to plead guilty in foreign collusion case
High Court has scheduled a plea and sentencing hearing for the 29-year-old jailed activist on September 2.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 03/07/2026
If you're doing research, never underestimate how incredibly helpful and generous with their time librarians and archivists are. Basically any time I've reached out to an archive with a query about their collection (that's cost-prohibitive to go check in person) they always go beyond what I expect.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 02/07/2026
RIP Victor Mair, a giant of Chinese language studies. Beyond his academic writings, his blog, Language Log, became a vital source of discussion on Chinese and other languages, and he was posting right up until the end. languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=73799
languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu
Language Log » Victor Mair RIP
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 29/06/2026
Die Zeit also pulls this crap. Surprised this behaviour has not been regulated out of existence in the EU, is clearly predatory, hoping people won't bother or will put off and forget and keep being charged.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 24/06/2026
Alien Tort Statute aside, Cisco's complicity in building Great Firewall and enabling the targeting of FLG activists in China is undeniable. While Cisco was eventually supplanted by Chinese competitors, Golden Shield could not have got off the ground without it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US supreme court ends lawsuit alleging Cisco helped China pursue Falun Gong
Suit ⁠alleged California-based company developed technology that allowed China to surveil members of movement
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 22/06/2026
Starmer may resign as Labour leader and therefore Prime Minister, but he cannot resign as a member of parliament, but must be sacked by appointment to the Chiltern Hundreds, per a law from 1623. www.hansardsociety.org.uk/publications...
Since 1623, MPs have not been allowed simply to resign from the House of Commons. Instead, they must accept an office that legally disqualifies them from being an MP. Appointment to one of two historic “offices of profit under the Crown” – the Chiltern Hundreds or, alternatively, the Manor of Northstead – achieves this.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 17/06/2026
Right, it’s terrifying to consider the possibility of kids not reporting groomers and abusers if they’re afraid THEY will get in trouble for defying age verification laws.
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Mark MacKinnon @markmackinnon.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Rats, trench toilets, and brothers-in-arms dying beside you. The war for Ukraine has now lasted longer than the First World War. And for all that’s changed, some things about trench warfare are grimly familiar. My report from the Kharkiv region, with photos by @olgaivashchenko.bsky.social
theglobeandmail.com
Ukraine’s fight is longer than the First World War, and looks similar in the trenches
In Ukraine, more than a century after the First World War, men are still fighting and dying in muddy holes in the ground
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Mark MacKinnon @markmackinnon.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
“Mr. Xi was visibly more relaxed than when he hosted Mr. Trump. The two men shook hands and smiled warmly, and at one point Mr. Xi appeared to laugh at a comment by his guest, as Mr. Putin greeted other top Chinese officials with visible familiarity.” From our @jamestgriffiths.com
theglobeandmail.com
Putin and Xi deepen ties as Russian leader follows Trump to China
Putin visits at a time of relative weakness, more dependent than ever on Chinese economic support
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 11/05/2026
"In February, the Chinese government expelled NYT correspondent Vivian Wang ... one of two remaining Times correspondents in China until this year ... The WSJ will soon be down to one foreign correspondent. The Post has not had a reporter in China since 2022." www.thewirechina.com/2026/05/10/n...
thewirechina.com
No Country for American Reporters - The Wire China
The number of journalists working for U.S. news organizations in China is dwindling fast, making it ever harder for outsiders to get a full picture of what is happening on the ground.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 07/05/2026
lmao, somehow, one of the biggest grifters in media returned www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 28/04/2026
Neither did European air travellers...? www.ft.com/content/4004...
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 27/04/2026
Have always appreciated NYT's detailed bylines (especially when they go into process, interviewed X number of people, reviewed Y documents etc.) but I wish they'd do similar for photographers, especially when a piece has such a distinctive visual style like this one: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/w...
nytimes.com
In the Foothills of Mount Fuji, the Fight Is On Against Unruly Tourists
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 27/04/2026
This, by @reckless.bsky.social, is superb. "Not everything is a business. Not everything is a loop! The entire human experience cannot be captured in a database. That’s the limit of software brain. That’s why people hate AI. It flattens them." www.theverge.com/podcast/9170...
theverge.com
BEWARE SOFTWARE BRAIN
Software brain is changing the world, but most people still aren’t buying.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 27/04/2026
Reached a point where one of the most tangible features of One Country, Two Systems will now be that as you enter Hong Kong from China, using a vape in public becomes illegal. (Smoking regular cigarettes still fine per HKSAR government.) www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...
scmp.com
Hong Kong boosts e-cigarette ban awareness in mainland China before ‘golden week’
Authorities ramp up promotion and enforcement before public possession ban on alternative smoking products begins on April 30.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 25/04/2026
Why is it newspapers seem to be holdouts in making it overly difficult to cancel subscriptions, or stop auto-renewing trials? This approach is incredibly scammy and almost all users must have enough experience with other subscription services to know it's not for any technical reasons.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 21/04/2026
"For all that’s been written about the coming AI crash, very little has been written about the short-form video collapse that is clearly just over the horizon." www.garbageday.email/p/what-happe...
Screenshot of linked article.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 20/04/2026
Four days of persistently bad air pollution, with AQI above 100, including while Hong Kong hosting Rugby Sevens, with hundreds of thousands of tourists in town, and zero coverage of the problem in local media. Nor does HKO monitor or alert high AQI, far more harmful than mildly cold or hot temps.
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Adam Conover @adamconover.net · 18/04/2026
I don't recall any previous transformative technologies that had to be sold to the public so hard. No one in 1999 was going, "Guys. Cell phone? It's coming, whether we like it or not. I think it's important, FOR WOMEN ESPECIALLY, to learn about cell phone. So that we're not left behind!!"
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 18/04/2026
Anand Gopal already wrote one of the best narrative non-fiction books in No Good Men Among the Living, but Days of Love and Rage is a staggering, awe-inspiring piece of journalism, a beautiful, tragic portrait of the Syrian revolution everyone should read: www.plutobooks.com/product/days...
plutobooks.com
Days of Love and Rage - Pluto Press
From Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Anand Gopal, an epic and enthralling account of six Syrians fighting for a better world
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LRB Bookshop @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk · 13/04/2026
samuel beckett was born on this day 120 years ago. astonishing to think that if he had survived, and could run 100m in 9.57 seconds, he would be not only the oldest but also the fastest man in the world - together with his nobel prize for literature, an astonishing trifecta
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 14/04/2026
(a) Putonghua widely used in HK schools already, with most public schools teaching Chinese via Putonghua, despite dubious pedagogical justification. (a) This would cause rapid decline of Cantonese, as in Guangdong and severely undermine the language's future viability. www.ft.com/content/1de8...
“We should really revamp our public education system. Our next generation has to be much more connected to China in terms of language and culture,” said Hui Kuok, chair and group chief executive of the Shangri-La luxury hotel group.

Kuok is the daughter of Robert Kuok, founder of the hotel group and Malaysia’s richest man.

“One way to do this could be over time to make Putonghua [Standard Mandarin] the main medium of instruction in schools,” she said, speaking at HSBC’s Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong.

“Another way could be for Hong Kong to invite some of the best public schools in China to open campuses here, just like we have done for international schools for decades.”
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 06/04/2026
This is so grim. What's the point of mass producing slop for a subscription-driven publication? This is something that would have been useful in a previous era of media, when you could have flooded Google with AI stories (as slop sites continue to do) and made ad revenue. Today, worthless.
WSJ editor wants everyone to use AI to produce slop stories that readers probably won't read and will devalue the point of subscribing to the Journal.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 03/04/2026
World's Freest Economy™ will fine you HK$3,000 for having a vape, but cigarettes are fine. And don't worry, tourists can pay their fines electronically. www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko...
For tourists who breach the law but do not have sufficient cash, officers will issue electronic fixed penalty tickets that allow payment via e-channels such as the Faster Payment System, Alipay and WeChat Pay.Official statistics showed Hong Kong’s smoking rate stood at 9.1 per cent for those aged 15 and over in 2023, among the lowest in developed economies. Fewer than 1 per cent reported daily use of heated tobacco or vapes.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 02/04/2026
Two years ago, @hongkongfp.com did this great piece on how Hong Kong govt thwarts own stated goal of getting press to "tell good Hong Kong stories" by stonewalling media outlets, especially independent and foreign media, even on completely uncontroversial stories: hongkongfp.com/2024/01/23/h...
hongkongfp.com
How Hong Kong denies media access despite calls for "good stories"
Hong Kong government departments denied multiple interview requests from HKFP despite officials' calls to tell "good stories" of the city.
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Rusty Foster @rusty.todayintabs.com · 01/04/2026
It’s fun—a macabre sort of fun—this parlor game of “Who Goes AI?” And it simplifies things—asking the question in regard to specific journalists. www.todayintabs.com/p/who-goes-ai
todayintabs.com
Who Goes AI?
An interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game.
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James Griffiths @jamestgriffiths.com · 01/04/2026
“Those who set us on fire wanted the paper to die,” said Mahfuz Anam, editor-in-chief of The Daily Star. “We refused to give them the satisfaction.” www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...
theglobeandmail.com
Out of dictatorship and mob violence, Bangladeshi media emerge more defiant than ever
The offices of two of the country’s leading dailies were attacked and set on fire by mobs late last year
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