The number of Hongkongers visiting Japan reaches all-time highs: 2.7 million in 2024, up 17% from 2019, and 285,000 in December 2024, up 14% from December 2023.
Could it be that inbound tourism encourages the outbound variety? The more Mainlanders, Saudis, Eskimos and whatever the government attracts to Hong Kong (44 million last year), the more local people rush off somewhere else to escape hordes of selfie-taking cake-buyers clogging up their neighbourhoods. To make the circle complete, millions of Japanese must now head off to sunny Riyadh.
The latest on desperate official attempts to boost visitor numbers…
Hong Kong may need to import halal food for all the Muslim tourists it aims to entice to the city, a minister said on Wednesday.
…Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said as Hong Kong develops into a Muslim-friendly tourist destination, halal food could be brought in from abroad.
“Hong Kong may not have many Muslims, but we need to make a lot of halal food. There are many Muslim countries in Asean, and we can attract restaurants and import food from these nations,” he said.
So… Hong Kong has quite a few Muslims; there’s no problem in ‘making’ halal food – no special ingredients are required; there are two and a bit majority-Muslim countries in Asean (Indonesia and Malaysia, plus plucky little Brunei); and there is no need to import restaurants or specific foodstuffs from them (there are quite a few halal restaurants around).
Strictly halal (ritually slaughtered) meat is sold in Hong Kong – there’s a butcher in Wanchai that’s been offering it for decades – but most Muslims aren’t too fussed, providing it’s not pork.
Other government moves aimed at attracting more visitors from Muslim nations include encouraging hotels to set up worship facilities, and persuading taxi drivers to provide information in Arabic (why not Urdu, Turkish and Persian while they’re at it?).
What about providing worship facilities in taxis?
On the subject of Asean – Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth answers questions about it at his confirmation hearing. (This guy is not the stupidest nominee: the one for public health is an anti-vax whacko, and the one for intelligence is pro-Russia.)
Throwing caution to the winds, Reg comes up with some hard-headed suggestions on how to curb the government’s budget deficit by freezing civil service recruitment and pay. No-one likes you anyway, you’ve nothing left to lose – go for it.
NatSec police put pressure on family members of PORI deputy director and academic Chung Kim-wah…
The wife and son of wanted former pollster Chung Kim-wah have been questioned by national security police, local media has reported, a day after Chung’s ex-colleague was also questioned and his office was searched as part of a national security investigation.
It’s not the first time the authorities have brought in exiled dissidents’ family members for questioning. Since the chances of arresting the fugitives are zero (unless they surrender themselves by returning to Hong Kong), there seems to be little law-enforcement value in approaching relatives, friends or colleagues for ‘assistance’. Then again, there is no obvious purpose in putting ‘wanted’ posters of the 19 ‘absconders’ in the airport, housing estates and elsewhere. Even if members of the public hoped to turn one in for a million bucks, how would they go about it? It’s all a performance – and not a very attractive one.
Robert Chung of PORI opinion polls is questioned by NatSec Police for ‘assisting an absconder’ – his former deputy Chung Kim-wah, who is in the UK and is one of the latest batch of people to be declared wanted for ‘inciting secession and colluding with foreign forces’, with HK$1 million rewards…
Chung Kim-wah said on Facebook on Monday that he had not spoken to Robert Chung since leaving Hong Kong in April 2022, except for season’s greetings and during a PORI press conference at the end of that month, which he attended online as a commentator, and to exchange seasonal greetings.
The Security Chief goes to some lengths to stress that the authorities are not persecuting PORI for its polls, which do not always reflect well on the government. It is probably worth assuming that any communication with a wanted dissident in exile could invite trouble.
A post by another of the ‘absconders’, Carmen Lau…
Feeling weird when someone sent me these – A total of 19 wanted notice are now posted at ALL borders of Hong Kong, government buildings & almost every lobbies of public estates. Even a murderer or sexual perpetrator doesn’t receive such treatment. What have I actually done? Urgh.
The government hits back at negative overseas press coverage – not about NatSec or human-rights issues, but its housing policy…
The Housing Bureau on Monday clarified the varying quality of subdivided flats and announced significant plans to boost public housing and address the city’s housing challenges.
Their comments came after the Australian Broadcasting Company and The Guardian recently highlighted issues surrounding Hong Kong’s housing situation, specifically pointing out the 110,000 subdivided flats on the market and inaccurately categorizing them as “low-quality.”
In response, the bureau emphasized that the quality of these subdivided flats varies significantly. Some are of good quality and meet the needs of working-class individuals, small families, and students who prioritize convenience for work and school. However, they acknowledged that there are also smaller units of poorer quality.
Authorities also noted that economically developed cities worldwide face similar challenges in accommodating diverse living needs through various types of housing units.
Does anyone live in a subdivided apartment because of the convenience? (Actually, I know of two people who lived in such places some years ago and could in theory have afforded something slightly less horrible further away from Hong Kong Island. But to say 100-sq-ft hovels are ‘good quality’ is a joke. And this is a government-created problem, arising from a deliberate shortage of affordable housing, with a dash of increased Mainland immigration post-1997.)
The report goes on to describe the government’s plans to increase public housing supply. (Can’t see a press release at either the government’s central or Housing Bureau site.)
Hong Kong launches a breast milk bank. Lactating mothers donate milk, which ends up at a central facility at HK Children’s Hospital and is distributed to other hospitals to feed premature and other newborn babies who would otherwise be given less-healthy formula. Site here.
This is no mega-event or vast infrastructure project. Nor is it groundbreaking: Singapore started such a service several years ago, and most developed countries have similar systems. But you would think that the Hong Kong government, if it is concerned about its popularity at home (or its reputation overseas), might have indulged in a little more self-congratulatory fanfare – for example by having the CE show up. This relatively small measure will provide more public benefit than ‘wanted’ notices for activists overseas, millions of panda bear stickers or desperate attempts to justify a half-trillion-dollar land reclamation.
This is pretty much a restaurant-review-free-zone (apart from once, maybe), but a few comments on Tanya Chan’s Taipei private kitchen Red Cotton…
As a pro-democracy politician, the former Civic Party lawmaker was last heard of in Hong Kong being hounded by the newly patriotism-minded Bar Association over her activity during the 2014 Umbrella Protests. By that time two years ago, following health problems and a suspended prison sentence, she had relocated to Taiwan and started culinary training. Like more than a few Hongkongers who have moved overseas, she now celebrates her home town through food.
Red Cotton, where she is head chef, produces Cantonese cuisine served banquet-style, as many of us have had at weddings or corporate dinners. Gastronomic-level Cantonese fare, with its light seasonings (or ‘emphasis on freshness’) might not always appeal to fans of more dazzling Sichuan, Thai, Vietnamese and other cuisines. And not everyone likes the multi-course format, with its endless procession of face-giving, even pretentious, dishes. But for such people, Red Cotton will be something of a revelation.
Tanya uses the best local ingredients, and has obviously worked hard honing her cooking skills. The result is rich and addictive braised beef and roast chicken, one of the best steamed fish dishes I’ve ever had, and often-iffy delicacies like abalone and goose foot done so well that you want more of them. (Portions are more than adequate: a Hong Kong emigre family in our party went away with boxes of leftovers.) Even the red bean soup – so often drab sugary goo – was more-ish, presumably because of superior cane sugar and the inclusion of orange peel.
In short, Red Cotton has achieved something that’s more in the Fook Lam Moon class (I’d guess – never been) than the predictable verging-on-dismal Cantonese onslaught we get at tiresome functions. The surroundings have some suitable Hong Kong nostalgia, and the music includes Anita Mui.
Hong Kong retail sales down 7.3% in November year-on-year, and 8.3% by volume/inflation-adjusted. Big falls in cars, electronics, Chinese medicine, furniture and many other consumer items, except supermarket goods. In volume terms, sales are around 30% lower than in 2015-19.
With China’s economy doing badly and tourists not spending like they used to, Hong Kong chose a bad time to lose several hundred thousand middle-class residents. I would like to help – but I’ll be in Taiwan for the coming week.
Some other things…
Gwulo – of the superb Hong Kong history website of the same name – gets a British Empire (that’s what it’s called) Medal in the UK’s New Year Honours. I don’t think he has been awarded so much as a Bronze Bauhinia Thing in the city itself.
ChineseCiv Substack review of a contemporary political philosopher/polemicist Zhao Tingyang’s book Redefining a Philosophy of World Government, which proposes a Chinese-influenced system of world government system…
Most of Zhao’s arguments are founded on what can only be described as extreme ethnic bias. His historical claims about Western civilization are almost all negative while his claims about Chinese civilization are bizarrely optimistic. His definition of “China” is based on three “consensuses” about Chinese history, but none of them are accepted by mainstream international scholars outside the PRC. The oft repeated and increasingly ridiculous claim that China is the only civilization that is “uninterrupted” begins his list of three fake consensuses. He claims many times, against even the most cursory reading of Chinese history, that the current extensive land area of the PRC was slowly collected in a completely peaceful way and never through imperialism, war, or genocide. Is there a single international historian who would agree with this? So much of his book is founded on these myths. In one section, he spends numerous pages discussing the imaginary battles of an ancient deity as if these events were actual history that provided proof for his historical interpretations.
…The problem with Zhao’s thinking, and one that has increasingly infected PRC society over the last few years, is that China is now so isolated that it no longer knows how isolated it is.
… it’s clear by Zhao’s shrill angry denunciations of Christianity and the West that he suspects, on some level, that the Christian church and America have already achieved a more substantial world system than anything China has ever built or is likely to build in the foreseeable future.
CNN investigation of China’s expansion of anti-corruption detention facilities…
Since taking power in 2012, Xi has launched a sweeping campaign against graft and disloyalty, taking down corrupt officials as well as political rivals at an unprecedented speed and scale as he consolidated control over the party and the military.
Now well into his third term, the supreme leader has turned his relentless campaign into a permanent and institutionalized feature of his open-ended rule.
And increasingly, some of the most fearsome tools he has wielded to keep officials in line are being used against a much broader section of society, from private entrepreneurs to school and hospital administrators – regardless of whether they are members of the 99-million-strong party.
The expanded [extra-judicial] detention regime, named “liuzhi,” or “retention in custody,” comes with facilities with padded surfaces and round-the-clock guards in every cell, where detainees can be held for up to six months without ever seeing a lawyer or family members.
…The lawyer, who requested anonymity due to fears of retribution from the government, said many of their clients had detailed abuse, threats and forced confessions while in liuzhi custody.
“Most of them would succumb to the pressure and agony. Those who resisted until the end were a tiny minority,” the lawyer said.
…High-profile liuzhi detainees include Bao Fan, a billionaire investment banker, and Li Tie, a former English Premier League soccer star and coach of China’s national men’s team. (Li was sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption this month.) At least 127 senior executives of publicly listed firms – many of them private businesses – have been taken into liuzhi custody, with three quarters of detentions taking place in the past two years alone, according to company announcements.
The New Year means a ton of novels, art, film, music and other things coming out of copyright. This year (depending on jurisdiction): Popeye, Tintin and works by Frieda Kahlo, Virginia Woolf, Charles Ives, Hemingway, Duke Ellington, and others.
The COMAC C919 aircraft makes its first commercial scheduled flight into Hong Kong, receiving a rapturous reception from RTHK…
The homegrown passenger jet, operated by China Eastern airlines and carrying around 160 passengers, took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 8.15am on Sunday and landed in the SAR about two and a half hours later.
Passengers were treated to an exceptional travel experience, with each of them receiving a special framed boarding pass – printed with the flight number, date, as well as the letters “C919” – as a souvenir.
…13-year-old Joe, a flying enthusiast, flew solo.
“I think the control of noise is very nice. Because it’s the first aircraft of China and in some ways it’s even better than Boeing and Airbus. The seats… are really comfortable,” he said.
“The meal was really good… We had this sort of Shanghai cake and another cake that had C919 letters on it and it was very delicious.”
This is its first ‘international’ flight, though no-one wants to use that word. Local officials do all they can to talk it up…
The inaugural flights of the domestically-produced C919 aircraft between Shanghai and Hong Kong have opened a “new chapter” for the SAR as an international aviation hub, transport and logistics chief Mable Chan said on Wednesday.
…Speaking at a welcoming ceremony at the Hong Kong International Airport, Chan said she feels honoured to witness the historic moment on New Year’s Day.
“Hong Kong is the first city beyond the other mainland cities to have this kind of commercial flight. So we are especially happy to see this flight materialise on the first day of 2025,” she said.
“We hope that through this commercial flight, we can bring this historical innovation breakthrough in the mainland’s production of civil aviation aircraft to our Hong Kong citizens, as well as to the international visitors coming to Hong Kong.”
An expert says the new model will help Hong Kong become an aviation engineering hub…
“In the past 50 or 60 years, Hong Kong has worked as an [aviation hub], but due to the lack of a local aircraft manufacturer, it is not an aircraft or aviation engineering hub,” Jason Li told RTHK.
He noted that Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the Shanghai-based manufacturer of the C919, was increasing its engineering investment in the SAR.
“Now, as you can see… COMAC is putting more China-produced C919 into Hong Kong. They are building an engineering team in Hong Kong,” said Li.
“You can see that aviation [requires] a comprehensive engineering team. There are so many different parts; mechanical, electronic etc. So there will be much more career opportunities for local young people,” he said.
He said the choice of Hong Kong as the C919’s first destination outside mainland China shows the city’s important role in advancing the national aviation sector.
“China is encouraging and letting more enterprises demonstrate their newest technology and the business in Hong Kong,” he said.
Any new model of aircraft flying into any city will generate some extra maintenance requirements. That’s it.
So what is the C919? The name was deliberately chosen to echo Boeing’s system of classifying aircraft – B707, B727, B737, etc. Although it is touted as China’s first wide-bodied airliner, the most important parts – like the avionics and engines – are mainly Western-designed. The model is similar to an Airbus A320/Boeing 737, aimed at serving short- to medium-range routes. But, despite being more recently developed, it has a shorter range, lower passenger capacity, and higher per-passenger fuel consumption than its rivals, plus (as a new model) higher operating costs. But it is cheaper to buy (by some estimates, half the price). It is still awaiting certification in major international markets. Maybe the C929, C939 etc will be more impressive.
China’s property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth [equivalent to US$60,000 per household], according to an estimate by Barclays, eclipsing the losses suffered by Americans in the financial crash of 2008-09. That hit, along with the trauma of Beijing’s heavy-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, helps explain why Chinese consumers aren’t spending freely.
The article goes on to say that the wealth ‘destroyed’ is equivalent to the entire market cap of China’s stock market, or one year’s GDP. No overtaking the US economy before mid-century – if ever. And then: the shrinking population; government, household and corporate debt approaching 300% of annual GDP; and over-investment (including 80 million empty homes) and outsized industrial production, causing looming disputes with overseas trading partners.
From Sixthtone, one of the millions of personal stories behind the bursting of China’s property bubble – a 28-year-old woman who bought an apartment that was never finished, but she moved in anyway…
As the building had no electricity, during the decoration phase I had hired an electrician to help wire my apartment to a temporary power box in the hallway. The developer’s workers would disconnect the wire every night. I didn’t know how to connect it myself, so on that first night in my new home I remained in near darkness.
For the first few nights, I’d turn on a tiny light. The developer had issued a statement saying that, as the site was still under construction, people were not allowed to live there. Security guards patrolled with flashlights at night, so I didn’t dare make my room too bright. But no matter how small the light, because the whole building was pitch black, I think it could still have been seen from outside.
Sometimes the security guard would knock on my door and ask why I hadn’t left yet, thinking I was just working on the place. I said I’d leave immediately after installing something. He didn’t think I actually lived there. But sometimes I would think, “This is my apartment. Why should I act like a thief and hide every day?”
The government’s new tourism blueprint – looks a lot like all the existing banal initiatives bundled up into one document, plus something called ‘bleisure travel’. Eco-tourism, mega-events, East-meets-West culture, ‘coastal platforms’, pandas, Lantau, Lamma, hotels, spas, horse-racing, cruise tourism, and so on. Whole thing here. The objective is to create jobs, which might need to be filled by imported workers (don’t ask).
A social worker loses his licence for five years for national security reasons. Security Secretary Chris Tang talks of the struggles he endured while working on the Article 23 legislation…
“I remember the time when I suffered from inflamed eyes due to a lack of sleep. My frozen shoulder and gout also relapsed. However, witnessing all my colleagues tirelessly working day and night, I forgot about these minor inconveniences. At that time, none of us could even keep track of how many takeaway meals we had,” he said.
“We were driven by a determination to face challenges head-on, so we persevered. Eventually, the legislation was passed unanimously, allowing me to feel truly honoured to have completed this historic mission hand in hand with my comrades. Upholding national security is our mission. Promoting national security and patriotic education is also our duty.”
“I faced slander, attacks and threats from the outside…”
Can’t resist mentioning the all-you-can-eat hotpot/buffet at the Aquatic Market in Tsuen Wan Plaza (I think they have a branch in Kowloon Bay as well). The deal is around HK$380 per person for two hours, during which time you get unlimited beef, lamb, chicken and grilled stuff (for the first 90 minutes), and shellfish, sliced fish, live prawns, fish maw, squid, greens, mushrooms, noodles, fishballs, soup refills, sauce components, etc that you collect yourself at the supermarket-type shelves for the hotpot, plus equally unlimited all-you-can-consume soda, juice, beer, shochu, ice cream etc, etc from 7-Eleven-size fridges. Think I saw salad.
Obvious question is: how does the company make money? Obviously, the ingredients are not top-quality (though not terrible, either). The place is massive, serving hundreds of families and groups, so presumably they rely on high volume. They could cut corners on staff, but there are lots of them constantly delivering the meat (ordered on an app) and carrying away empty plates. And they are – by Hong Kong standards – quite friendly, which suggests they are not too undermanned.
The customers are certainly having fun. Even if the food is not top-of-the-range, there is something almost hilarious about thousands of square feet of tables full of raucous happy Hongkongers determined to eat more than they pay. My party was a bit disorganized, but seasoned professionals seem to come with choices of ingredients already planned, and then assign people to urgently gather them all up. Deserves four stars for the people-watching.
The government strips pro-democracy veteran Martin Lee of his ‘Justice of the Peace’ title. Insofar as JPs have serious duties (such as visiting prisons), surely they should all relinquish the office at a certain age, well before Lee’s 86 years. But among Hong Kong’s traditional establishment, having the letters ‘JP’ after your name is a big symbolic deal, with many tycoons over the decades begging officials to grant the bauble to their kids. (You may or may not think there’s more than a few riffraff on the list.) To today’s patriots-only crowd, an office dating back to 14th Century England (Edward III, 1361) should surely be abolished as a colonial hangover anyway. Lee himself is probably enjoying the ironies.
The police extend seasonal cheer to people visiting a book fair in Sheung Wan, checking IDs and bags…
Books were also on display at former bookstore Mount Zero, which bid farewell to hundreds of book lovers in late March. The shop had announced its decision to close last December, citing a string of inspections by authorities following alleged anonymous complaints.
On Friday afternoon, a HKFP reporter at the scene saw uniformed police stop a car leaving the former Mount Zero bookstore. In the vehicle was the bookstore’s former owner and pro-democracy figure and barrister [and author] Margaret Ng. The police let the vehicle go after around five minutes.
I hope no visitors to Hong Kong were caught up in this apparently pointless exercise – it’s the sort of thing that puts tourists off.
Of the six people added to the NatSec wanted list on Christmas Eve – with HK$1 million rewards going – one is 19 years old. Chloe Cheung’s photo used in the official publicity was taken when she was 11. She describes hearing the news here.
In response to the slanderous remarks made by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, officials of the European Union, politicians and anti-China organisations regarding the further actions taken by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government against offenders absconded overseas who continue to engage in acts and activities endangering national security as announced yesterday (December 24), the HKSAR Government today (December 25) expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition.
…”…Legislation that safeguards national security only targets a very small number of organisations and individuals that endanger national security.”
…”These seven abscondees are hiding in the United States and Australia and continue to blatantly engage in activities endangering national security, inciting secession and requesting foreign countries to impose ‘sanctions’ or blockade and engage in other hostile activities against the People’s Republic of China and the HKSAR. More so, they continue to collude with external forces to be covered for their evil deeds. It is therefore necessary to take such measures to make a strong blow … Foreign government officials and politicians, as well as anti-China organisations, deliberately smeared and spread irresponsible remarks on the measures and actions taken by the HKSAR Government in accordance with the law in an attempt to mislead the public…
…”Absconders should not think they can evade criminal liability by absconding from Hong Kong. Ultimately, they will be liable for their acts constituting serious offences endangering national security and be sanctioned by the law,” the spokesman stressed…
A column in Asia Timesraises the possibility of the ‘offenders absconded overseas’ theatrics nudging the incoming Trump administration into dropping an H-bomb on Hong Kong…
The new arrest warrants may provide more fuel for hawkish American lawmakers to advocate for more sanctions against Hong Kong officials and companies or even more extreme measures such as the removal of some Hong Kong-based banks from the SWIFT financial transfer system, which if implemented could trigger a de-pegging of the Hong Kong dollar and to the US buck.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sent a letter to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in late November to express the committee’s “deep concern” regarding Hong Kong’s alleged “increasing role as a financial hub for money laundering, sanctions evasion and other illicit financial activities.”
“In the wake of the National Security Law of 2020, which subjected Hong Kong to the rule of the CCP, Hong Kong has shifted from a trusted global financial center to a critical player in the deepening authoritarian axis of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Iran, Russia and North Korea,” he wrote.
“We must now question whether longstanding US policy towards Hong Kong, particularly towards its financial and banking sector, is appropriate.”
Moolenaar said the US Treasury has taken preliminary action against entities based in Hong Kong, where the city has now become a global leader in practices such as importing and re-exporting banned Western technology to Russia, creating front companies for purchasing barred Iranian oil, facilitating the trade of Russian-sourced gold and managing “ghost ships” that engage in illegal trade with North Korea.
Just a hint of de-SWIFTing/de-pegging would create more havoc in Hong Kong than a million teenage girls inciting secession.
Still time before New Year to pull out an earlier angry government statement to response to a WaPoeditorial…
A Hong Kong court last month sentenced 45 pro-democracy politicians and activists to prison terms ranging up to 10 years for the crime of conspiracy to commit subversion…
…[Hong Kong’s] judiciary, which was once widely respected as independent, has become another tool in the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to subjugate a formerly free people.
Consider what the 45 convicted politicians and activists were accused of doing that so threatened the Hong Kong government. They hatched a widely publicized plan to hold a primary election to select the strongest candidates from the pro-democracy camp to run in legislative council elections originally scheduled for 2020. The general election was delayed when Beijing realized its unpopular pro-China candidates would lose. More than 600,000 Hong Kong citizens voted in the primary, so they must have all been part of the conspiracy, according to the Communist Party’s twisted logic.
…China’s ruling Communists, knowing they could not win a free election in Hong Kong, created a puppet version, with rules drawn to exclude opposition candidates. They then arrested most of the city’s legitimate politicians…
…The trial was a charade and the guilty verdicts a foregone conclusion; many of the 45 pleaded guilty hoping to get a slightly reduced sentence. The judiciary has long ago proved that when national security cases are concerned, it is there only to do Beijing’s bidding.
…no matter how the Hong Kong government and the judges in this case tried to justify the arrests and the heavy sentences imposed on our friends, I think many of us are still very puzzled. Can organizing and participating in a primary election be considered “conspiracy to subvert” a powerful authoritarian regime like that of China? Should organizing and participating in the primary election be an offense at all? Would those of us who cast our votes be accused of aiding and abetting an offense, too? Ask yourself if such a view could ever be acceptable in a free country like Japan.
Does this mean that the over 600,000 of us who voted in the primary election could also be considered “criminals”?
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China issues its annual report, putting Hong Kong together with Xinjiang and Tibet as a place where Beijing ‘most brutally’ violates human rights. HKFPsays…
“The façade of an alternative system of political governance that was promised to last 50 years… has withered away as Hong Kong becomes nearly indistinguishable from any other neon-lit city on the Chinese mainland,” the report read. “Indeed, Hong Kong officials may now be more zealous than their mainland counterparts in enforcing national security laws.”
In response, the Commissioner’s Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong said in a Chinese-language statement on Saturday that the “so-called report” was a tactic which “grossly interferes” in the internal affairs of mainland China and Hong Kong.
The Office said the report “fully exposed the ignorance, prejudice, and arrogance of certain U.S. politicians.”
Are human rights more repressed in Hong Kong than in the majority-Han provinces and municipalities of the PRC? On the one hand, you could say it feels like it. You never hear of people being jailed for a T-shirt in the Mainland. On the other, it’s perhaps a bit of a stretch. Trials of dissidents are not yet held in secret, for example.
Perhaps the CECC thought it might as well give Beijing and Hong Kong authorities both barrels, since they would be equally infuriated either way. Which is indeed the case…
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (December 21) strongly disapproved of and opposed the so-called “2024 Annual Report” issued by the United States (US) Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which made malicious smearing remarks against multiple areas in the HKSAR.
An HKSAR Government spokesperson said, “The HKSAR Government strongly disapproves and opposes the CECC’s repeated tactics to interfere in the affairs of the HKSAR through the so-called annual report, and make slandering remarks against Hong Kong, where ‘one country, two systems’ is successfully implemented. The US is once again making unfounded and fact-twisting remarks. Such attempt to undermine the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and interfere in Hong Kong’s law-based governance is smack of despicable political manipulation with ill intentions.”
The spokesperson said, “The CECC openly clamour for so-called ‘sanctions’ with an aim to intimidate HKSAR officials who resolutely safeguard national security. The HKSAR Government strongly condemns its political grandstanding rife with ill intentions, which have been seen through by all. The HKSAR despises the so-called ‘sanctions’ and will not be intimidated by such a despicable behaviour. The HKSAR will resolutely continue to discharge the duty of safeguarding national security.”
The Standard sneaks in an editorial raising the ultimate no-no of all: the huge pensions civil servants hired before 2000 receive…
While a little more than HK$50 billion is committed to paying retired civil servants pensions this financial year, the sum is forecast to increase steadily over the next 10 years as life expectancy lengthens due to improved medical services and an increase in the number of retiring civil servants.
It is estimated that, based on today’s value, the government would have to set aside HK$559 billion for the payment of civil service pensions for the next 10 years…
Nothing a quick Basic Law ‘interpretation’ can’t fix.
Hong Kong hosts how many hubs? Full list here. I stopped counting at 50 or so. (If we exclude ‘thriving’ and ‘sustainable’ ones, it would be fewer – so it’s not quite as absurd and demented as it sounds. Maybe. Except it is.)
A lady who says she didn’t coin the term ‘menstruation police’ offers a vid of a Chinese official berating a man in his early 30s for not reproducing. ‘Hopefully’, she says, ‘it will put a smile on your face’. Probably won’t, unless you think the whole thing is staged – which it doesn’t seem to be. (Starts about nine minutes in. She believes China’s real population is around 500 million, so is perhaps not the most reliable source.)
We wish a merry blah-blah to all our blah-blah, etc.
