Eva Lee was growing frustrated. After three years of insulation, lockdowns and, more recently, near-daily Covid testing, China was finally reopening its borders, and the 40-year-old lawyer was eager to travel.
But as she scrolled the popular Qunar and Ctrip travel apps from her Beijing apartment, her options seemed limited. She considered going to the Philippines for some kite-surfing — but there were no direct or affordable flights to Boracay. She looked at Taipei to visit one of her best friends, but the country was still closed off to Chinese visitors, except for organized tour groups.
Crowds at the Lunar New Year celebration in Macau, January 22, 2023. Credit: GCS Macau Government
Her best option was to fly to Macau, a semi-autonomous Chinese region and former Portuguese territory south of the mainland. There, at least, she could reunite with her parents, whom she hadn’t seen in three years, for the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.
But
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When Ken Wilcox, a former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, moved to Shanghai in 2011, he was optimistic and eager to start up the bank's new joint venture in China. A decade later, however, he is extremely cynical about U.S. business interests in China. While analysts will, rightly, be debating SVB's missteps in the U.S. for the foreseeable future, Wilcox insists the bank's challenges in China should not be overlooked.
The former secretary of state talks about how the Trump administration changed U.S.-China relations; why he accused Beijing of genocide in Xinjiang; and why U.S. politicians should visit Taiwan.
