[2] Vines first moved to Hong Kong in 1987 as a south-east Asia correspondent for The Observer, with the intent of staying for a few years.

Vines was the founding editor of Eastern Express, and the founder and publisher of Spike, a political and business weekly magazine.

[13] He has generally criticized Hong Kong's Chief Executives as supposedly being too loyal to the Chinese central government, for example describing the administration of Carrie Lam as "quislings.

"[14][15][16] He has lamented that "[a]fter the handover there was a frenzy of tearing down structural reminders of British colonial rule" and claims that the Chinese central government has repeatedly "undermined" Hong Kong's autonomy since 1997.

In an email to his friends and colleagues, he wrote, "[t]he white terror sweeping through Hong Kong is far from over and the near-term prospects of things getting better are simply non-existent".