Gregory Lee 利大英
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gblee.bsky.social
Gregory Lee 利大英
@gblee.bsky.social
Writer and academic. Emeritus Professor, University of St Andrews. Professeur émérite, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon. 香港人文學院院士. Formerly SOAS/PKU/Cambridge/UChicago/HKU/BBC/社科院. Founding Director IETT, Lyon. Gen editor Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本 跨文化.
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@gblee.bsky.social Book covers
#China #UK #spies

MI5 issues alert to MPs and peers over Chinese espionage

Parliamentarians warned over two people linked to China’s spy agency ‘actively reaching out to individuals’

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
MI5 issues alert to MPs and peers over Chinese espionage
Parliamentarians warned over two people linked to China’s spy agency ‘actively reaching out to individuals’
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
Former president Ma Ying-jeou and the current KMT leadership want Taiwan to face China alone, in other words: being annexed without anyone intervening. In order to facilitate the annexation, they are also against increasing Taiwan's defense budget.
Ma Ying-jeou, of all people, hits out at Takaichi claiming her statements are provocative and that Taiwan-China tensions are a "internal matter"

www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...
Takaichi’s comments ‘reckless,’ Ma says - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
www.taipeitimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
Views for @bloomberg.com: “The deal is far from done. #China can use licenses as leverage and decide to grant or withdraw them and exert pressure any time.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
China and US Yet to Agree Rare-Earth Deal Weeks After Talks
The US and China are still negotiating over the key details of how Beijing will free up sales of rare earths, according to a person familiar with the matter, weeks after a trade truce that Washington ...
www.bloomberg.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
#travel #ban risk has been on the cards for some time now. Countries with high exposure beware! E.g. #UK and over-dependence on #China student fees revenue.

China warns citizens not to travel to Japan in row over comments made by PM Sanae Takaichi about #Taiwan"
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China travel warning for Japan sends shares in tourism and retail companies plunging
China warned its citizens not to travel to Japan amid an escalating row over comments made by prime minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:03 AM
#photography #drawing #Chinese #Paris #diaspora

"Mr Lee with Mr Xue"

Paris, October 2025

From ink drawing by
@natachalee.bsky.social
www.natachalee.art
November 16, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Some good news this morning - exports of Xinjiang tomatoes have collapsed. Last year I worked with the BBC to expose how XJ tomatoes produced with forced labour were making their way to UK supermarkets via Italy. 🧵
The western Chinese region of Xinjiang dramatically increased tomato cultivation and processing in recent years, but slumping sales to Italy and other western European markets have left it sitting on a vast stockpile of unsold paste. on.ft.com/4i5bFtZ
November 16, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
November 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
This is about the British system which I don’t know about, but in general, I recommend keeping immigration documents around forever, at least a scan. No immigration or citizenship status is forever.

Not just until death: if you have descendants deriving status from you, they might need them too.
yeah I saw someone say they'd got citizenship the other week and just...binned all the old application documents because he doesn't need them anymore. all of our physical documents are so secure that the house could fall down and they'd still be in one piece
November 16, 2025 at 12:28 PM
#photography #drawing #Chinese #Paris #diaspora

"Mr Lee with Mr Xue"

Paris, October 2025

Ink drawing by @natachalee.bsky.social
www.natachalee.art
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
#China #LGBT
via @amyabides.bsky.social

Two of China’s most popular gay dating apps have disappeared from app stores in the country, raising fears of a further crackdown on LGBT communities.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China removes two popular gay dating apps from Apple and Android stores
Withdrawal of Blued and Finka raises fears of further crackdowns on LGBT rights amid growing restrictions
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
Yes. It's the kinship of authoritarianism.

-Geremie Barmé saw the parallels already in 2017: www.chinafile.com/reporting-op...
The Chairmen, Trump and Mao
The January 13, 1967 issue of TIME magazine featured Mao Zedong on its cover with the headline “China in Chaos.” Fifty years later, TIME made U.S. President-elect Donald Trump its Man of The Year. Wit...
www.chinafile.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:33 PM
#China #UK

Astounding how suddenly everyone's waking up to this. It's as though we've been baying at the moon for years.
@amyabides.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

MPs prepare to examine Chinese state influence at UK universities.
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
ICYMI

via @amyabides.bsky.social Amy Hawkins 5 Nov 2025

Very interesting piece, fits with what I've thinking over for a talk I'll be giving in a couple of weeks.

"A cultural revolution? Trump’s #America feels oddly familiar to those watching from #China"

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A cultural revolution? Trump’s America feels oddly familiar to those watching from China
Demands of absolute loyalty and attacks on institutions have raised memories of Mao-style chaos from US watchers in China
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Sittelle Torchepot/Nuthatch

📷©@gblee.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM
#China #UK #universities #censorship

via CLEMENT NGU @asia.nikkei.com
November 7, 2025 12:17 JST

China allegedly pressed UK's Sheffield university to drop study
asia.nikkei.com/business/edu...
UK academic freedom in spotlight after Xinjiang research suspension
Anti-terror unit involved after China allegedly pressed a Sheffield university to drop study
asia.nikkei.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
November 7, 2025 at 12:37 PM
#bird #photography

'Just looking'

Mésange bleue (Cyanistes caeruleus) Blue Tit

📷 © @gblee.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 5:15 PM
#China #UK #universities #Uyghur #Uighur #censorship
Human rights research halted after pressure from China

Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities

via AmyHawkins

www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:24 AM
#bird #photography

'Autumnal colours.'

Sittelle torchepot - Sitta europaea - Eurasian Nuthatch

📷 @gblee.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 10:11 PM
#photography #birds

Pretty much the way I ended the week.

Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto
📷 @gblee.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 9:51 PM
On naming..."we need to decolonize the language"

Absolutely, but who named Asia and Africa Asia and Africa?
October 26, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Gregory Lee 利大英
Feeling vulnerable sharing this: I wrote about land-exploitation as ongoing #colonization, grief, accountability, and the urge to re-member our relationship with the Earth...

#landjustice #landrights #conservation #uprootedculture #roots #decolonization #animism
Ongoing Colonization: Land Exploitation & Complicity
How extraction continues colonization and why we must confront our complicity.
hazelvolk.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 10:38 PM
"Governments & corporations, whether in Canada, Australia, or France, are staffed by people shaped by that amnesia. People who have largely forgotten their own history...no memory of old languages...of sharing space with a web of life that once named trees, rivers, and stars as kin, not “resources.”
October 26, 2025 at 9:21 AM