Hong Kong and Macao are not without serious problems: Hong Kong's share of the social problem was political, which manifested in the 2019 "protests" that were well-orchestrated by the collusion of the Pan-democrats and their foreign friends; and Macao's most recent problem is an allegedly well-organized crime of financial nature, that has severely hurt the Chinese mainlanders' pockets and breaking the nation's laws.

Over the past few weeks, the world has been in a state of panic as the new "Omicron" variant of the Covid-19 was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). The designation has set off a wave of new travel bans and restrictions around the world, has spooked markets and wiped away what was otherwise a growing ray of optimism towards a more managed pandemic through the impact of vaccines.

Less than a month away, foreign critics have already dismissed the upcoming Legislative Council election as a sham. So much for the objective and independent journalism of the West!

In 2000, the US Congress established the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, with wide terms of reference. Its mandate is to monitor, investigate and submit to Congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic partnership between the two countries. If appropriate, it also is required to make recommendations to Congress for legislative and administrative action.

Two controversial court cases turned the American judicial system upside down: Rittenhouse, a white defendant in the first case, and Arbery, a Black victim in the second, exposed how the law and the legal system in the U.S. are unjustly created--not "for the people, of the people, by the people" as President Abraham Lincoln had expected it.

Do you believe it? It is totally unbelievable: Ever since US President Joe Biden moved into the White House starting January 2021, his administration has not stopped bashing Beijing. So unfailing is this unmistakable act of global aggression, even the Times, one of America's authoritative newspapers, finds this act of barbarism newsworthy enough to report about it.

Hong Kong, under its Basic Law, enjoys many advantages. It is, for example, highly fortunate to have a sizable body of non-permanent judges from other common law jurisdictions sitting on its Court of Final Appeal, of whom there are currently 12.

With all but one aspirant who signed up to run in next month's Legislative Council election having been cleared to stand as candidates, the public is now in a better position to preview the election scheduled on Dec 19. The candidate list that contains aspirants from a variety of political spectrums bodes well for a new era of representative government in the wake of the 2019 political turmoil.

The world's most eye-catching issue is and always will be centering on or around Taiwan--even after the hopeful virtual summit when the US President Joe Biden and Xi candidly discussed Taiwan and the related matters.

Constitutionally, the political system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an "executive-led political system". In devising such a system, Beijing drew inspiration from the "governor-centered" political system of colonial Hong Kong. Nevertheless, to make the post-1997 political system more democratic than its predecessor, the chief executive of the HKSAR was granted less power than the colonial governor.

China's first high-speed rail line across the Gobi Desert symbolizes a modern China amid political storms posed here and there now and then by the United States and its allies: The challenges that the bullet train has to face—include the inhospitable terrain on the train railway; the track; high wind and the sand storm, and the top engineering scientists involved in building the tract and keeping the train and its passengers safe—are far too comparable and inseparable between this "China's first bullet train" and that destiny of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Politicizing international education, Australia passed its first foreign interference law in 2018, sparking a dispute with China, which has always wanted to focus on the development of a healthy bilateral relationship with Australia.

Many people have the illusion that Western-style democracy is the only acceptable form of idealized democracy. But as Chinese President Xi Jinping has pointed out in his recent speech at a central conference on work related to people's congresses, "Democracy is not an ornament to be used for decoration; it is to be used to solve the problems that the people want to solve."

With the historic proposal resolutely passed by the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping is now the third monumental Chinese leader—after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping—whose unprecedented achievements and unparallel leadership have been enshrined in the history of the party, destined for greatness.

In about a month's time, voters will go to the ballot stations to return their representatives to the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This will set Hong Kong on the right track of "one country, two systems" and be a chance for "Asia's world city" to thrive again. Noting the challenges the city is facing on many fronts, this is going to be an important milestone in the improvement of Hong Kong's governance to be remembered.