The Master of Social Science Programme in Global Political Economy that you are in charge of pledges to offer a ‘Glocalizing Learning Experience’. What does that mean?

Our programme is about international affairs. But we start from something that is most relevant to students or that interests them most. For example, if a student is a fund manager, he or she must be interested in knowing the concept underlying the so-called BRIC countries and their developmental trends. From that, we can move on to the backgrounds and economic patterns of these countries. For students who are football fans, we’ll have a course on global political economy and sports that will teach topics including, for example, Manchester United’s international marketing strategy.

You also like to use football as a starting point for your articles on international affairs.

I’m a football enthusiast. But I also need to employ different approaches to attract the attention of someone who is originally uninterested in this topic. If you suddenly mention Côte d’Ivoire, nobody will pay heed to it. But if you begin with Didier Drogba, at least you can grab the attention of some football fans who know he is a football player from Côte d’Ivoire. I’m using such an approach to boost readership.

Is Hong Kong society global enough?

A few decades ago, the Vietnam War was front-page news. But in the past 10 or 20 years, newspapers have been extremely localized. You are hard put to find one international issue that makes front-page headlines in a year. This reflects the fact that we don’t think international issues are relevant to our lives. But if we’re only interested in local matters, our vision will be similar to those people in China towns overseas. When I was a student, I often went to China town to read Chinese newspapers. They often ran stories about Mr. so-and-so was given a reception by some leader from some fellow townsmen association. Hong Kong is a global city. International issues are relevant to our survival. If we are too parochial, this city will lose its niche.

How should this be changed?

I believe that every job has a certain global dimension. For example, how does a war in the Persian Gulf affect your company’s performance? The perception of society will gradually change if human resources managers come to realize that knowledge of international affairs is a basic skill for employment, just like proficiency in English and Chinese. They may also incorporate this dimension into their corporate training programmes.

Are you interested in going into politics?

Absolutely not. I am first and foremost a researcher of international affairs. I believe that any form of collaboration based on this role would be appropriate; any undertaking unrelated to it is not. The positions I’ve held in public service are more or less related to this identity. For example, I’m a member of the Hong Kong Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation, a position directly related to my research field. Over the years I’ve received many invitations or job referrals, I’ve rejected all those that are not related to my identity or research fields. That’s my principle.

What readings would you recommend to students interested in gaining a better understanding of international affairs?

I would ask them to expose themselves on a daily basis to the different perspectives of different news media, such as the Xinhuanet, Al Jazeera, the CNN and The Guardian. Just take a quick look at them and you’ll get a general picture of what’s happening around the world. Going on exchange is also a good way to gain exposure to other cultures. You have to leave this place so as to gain first-hand experience of different parts of the world. I also seize every opportunity to attend meetings overseas. So, I’m happy to go to places  not many CUHK colleagues would like to go. For example, I went to Bangladesh earlier though not without a price. I had the runs for a week after I got back.

Do you enjoy appearing in the media?

Not at all. I’ve never liked media exposure. But if you don’t rely on the media, it’ll be very difficult to achieve some of your objectives. In recent years I’ve strived to establish more stable relationships with some organizations and groom someone new for media exposure. Many of my students are ready. There will be some new faces in the years to come. By that time, I’ll have devoted myself to setting up frameworks. I believe that I’m of greater value planning behind the scenes than being in the spotlight.

Your articles are rich in information. Is it all in by heart or you have to do a lot of research before putting pen to paper?

I was a stamp collector when I was young. My knowledge of various countries was acquired at that time. If you’re serious about stamp collecting, you need to know a lot about countries—their histories, how they got their names, other names they had, symbols they use, their historical figures, the relations with other countries and what consequences entailed changes to these relations. These are basic. I also like to sort and categorize things. So, I kept statistics and drew a lot of tables and charts. Of course, whenever I write about a particular case, I still have to do some simple research.

You’ve published a series of books on world politics as reflected in movies. What is your opinion on the movies that have recently won the Oscars?

It’s quite political that Argo was given the prize at this moment. It has something to do with the relations between the US and Iran. I traveled to Iran recently. The people there are peaceful and reasonable. They don’t seem to be very anti-American. It’s very different to what is portrayed in the media and in that movie. Another award-winning movie Zero Dark Thirty is also obviously American-style propaganda. It blames Osama bin Laden for a lot of things for which he was not responsible. It overplays the importance of killing Osama bin Laden and omits many nasty things done by the Americans, such as killing people in broad daylight in the name of anti-terrorism. There are differences between the impression projected in movies and the facts. The task of a scholar is to expose these differences to people.