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This paper examines diverging views on the Chongqing model, the policy experiment led by Bo Xilai from 2007 to 2012 that was famous for its “red songs” and the campaign against organized crime. It has impressed both the supporters of socialist identity of China and the supporters of liberal identity and led to an intense debate concerning China’s path of development. This paper attempts to discuss and clarify to what extent the Chongqing model represented a genuine socialist experiment and the implications of the model for China’s future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the significance of company record for journalist when investigating projects relating to conflict of interest that occurs in Hong Kong and in and connected with China.

The paper describes what company records are available, and how they are accessible for the public in Hong Kong. It then compares with the company record accessibility in China. The paper uses investigative projects done by the author and other journalists to illustrate how the records are significant. Some of the investigative projects that are related to China are used to illuminate the importance for the company record in Hong Kong for investigating issues in China.

Hong Kong maintains an efficient access to the company record that benefits the journalists for probing into the issues of conflict of interest. This efficient system has faced threats when the government proposed to withdraw some of the important records from the general public access.

This paper will be of interest to journalists and journalism students and scholars who are interested to know the practical uses of company records. Policymakers will also learn from this paper that a restriction in the public access to the company record will make a huge impact to the justice-seeking journalist work.

Since China’s “opening-up” in the late 1970s, Singapore has played a major role in enhancing China’s engagement with the world, especially in economic terms. This traditional relationship is well manifested in the third government-to-government (G–G) project under the BRI, which is known as the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI). The purpose of this paper is to address the following question: despite Singapore’s initial reluctance to agree on a third G–G project with China, why did Singapore eventually decide to join the CCI?

This paper draws on archives of over 700 Chinese language media reports and over 400 English language media reports, as well as private interactions with scholars interested in Sino-Singapore relations and with both sides’ officials in charge of the CCI project.

The paper finds that it is the goal of connecting the region, along with the need to maintain Singapore’s relevance to China and the regional economy that led to Singapore’s participation in the third G–G project. This paper also uses this case to analyse the changes that are taking place in the bilateral economic relations.

Despite wide media coverage, op-ed commentaries and respective government statements, there are a limited number of academic studies on the rationale of the third G–G project and contemporary Sino-Singapore relations in the literature. The scholarship has not addressed the rationale for Singapore’s changing attitude towards CCI and the manner in which the CCI has improved cooperation (or upgraded cooperation to a broader and regional level).