The Sound of One Hand Clapping: Collected Writings of Xiuyuan Hu

This book consists of a collection of Xiuyuan Hu’s past writings on a wide range of topics from a critique and alternative to Ronald Dworkin’s Right Answer Thesis, offshore financial secrecy, the meaning of liberty in Thomas Hobbes’ famed book Leviathan, and People’s Republic of China’s early constitutional making history in the 1950s. Although these topics are quite varied, the author, through his writings, offers novel but workable solutions to some of the most challenging issues facing the world today. For example, the author makes the provocative case for Taiwan becoming China’s tax haven in the common reporting standard era so it can better leverage itself in the cross-strait relations with China. The author also advocates that, in the context of an increasingly polarized American public, politically moderate Americans should not be forced to pick a side and actually refrain from voting on a controversial issue, so that they can work together with the judiciary to challenge laws that fail to pass constitutional muster and act as a decisive force when a zealous state legislature tries to pass them again on remand. As controversial as they may sound, the author does substantiate his claims with sound arguments and an engaging style.