[...] There will be many in the nations encompassed by the Five Eyes Alliance who take exception to these history lessons. They have no right to be offended, however, by the way such events linger in China’s memory. It was, after all, the so-called “Opium Wars” that marked the sudden and abject collapse of Chinese power.

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Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in New...