Helen-ann Smith

There is a thickness to the air outside Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong's Tai Po district. The smoke catches in your throat and the emotion catches you off guard. Seven of the eight tower blocks that make up this complex have been all but blackened. And throu... See more

It might seem far-fetched to talk about the remote hills of southeastern Laos as a theatre for great power politics. It feels like a particularly unfitting description for the district of Dak Cheung, one of the most remote corners of one of Asia's poorest... See more

For all the brinkmanship, for all the high stakes and attempts to wield maximum leverage, in the end, there was clear recognition from both the US and China that a degree of stabilisation was necessary. The fact that some progress has been made on a relat... See more