Big Lychee, Various Sectors

An HKFP op-ed protests the deletion of Ombudsman’s Office online archives…

…the reports point out how departments have passed the buck, not taken responsibility, and how officials and citizens both exploit legislative loopholes. The issues not only annoy residents but also cause frustration, dissatisfaction, and disputes both among citizens and between citizens and government departments.  

From these reports, we can judge the extent to which government departments learn, improve, and become sensitive to problems previously ignored. Insofar as they do, these are good stories for Hong Kong. 

With only reports from 2023-24 onwards available, neither the public nor LegCo may be aware that some recent problems have long histories.

HKFP story quotes former secretary for the civil service Patrick Nip…

“Reports and surveys published by government bureaux and departments, public organisations, and independent commissions are important references,” he said in a Facebook comment replying to veteran journalist Lam Miu-yan’s post on the Ombudsman’s decision.

“Unless there are special reasons, they must be properly preserved and made easily accessible to the public,” Nip added.

RTHK (no stranger to wiping reminders of its former editorial independence) puts the official case…

The Office of The Ombudsman said on Monday that it has removed investigation reports that are “no longer up to date” from its website, saying that old reports could contain information that misleads the public.

In the statement, the Ombudsman said it reviews content on its website from time to time to ensure its accuracy and relevance, noting “only [reports] from the past three years” are being retained on its website following the latest update.

But also adds that several legislators are voicing disquiet over the move.

The Ombudsman issues a statement saying you can fax or email them to retrieve deleted material. (The Wayback Machine should also have copies of older material, if you can find them.)

What no-one is asking is what exactly the department might be trying to hide. As mentioned yesterday, the Transport Dept has also been reported as deleting embarrassing online records. 

One to watch: the Audit Commission, which also highlights government failures, still has all its reports since 1999 online. 

During my five-day absence, the Hong Kong government announced, passed and implemented new local national security/Article 23 laws. Blink and you would’ve missed it. The key part seems to be enabling Mainland NatSec authorities to directly take control of cases under ‘special’ circumstances. Much of the attention focused on the declaration of those authorities’ premises in Hong Kong – including four hotels – as ‘prohibited’ areas. Which again raises the question of how many of these officials there are here, and what they do all day.

Also while I was away: a proposal for something called the ‘Victoria Cove Area’. By ‘area’ we mean ‘hub-zone’, I presume. Sounds better than ‘the Kowloon Bay armpit’. As usual, it’s driven by the obsession with tourists. But a few of the ideas, like canoeing, are verging dangerously on being imaginative and, in theory, even fun. And then – uh-oh – you read that the project would be under the Urban Renewal Authority.

The CFHK on the introduction of the Hong Kong Judicial Sanctions Act in the US Senate…

The bill … would initiate a mandatory review of 45 individuals for targeted sanctions under existing U.S. laws … These individuals — officials, judges, and prosecutors at all levels — have weaponized the city’s legal system to punish pro-democracy activists, civil society leaders, journalists, and everyday citizens under the National Security Law and other repressive statutes.

Among the individuals named are the three judges who recently sentenced 45 pro-democracy leaders to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years: Johnny Chan Jong-herng, Andrew Chan Hing-wai, and Alex Lee Wan-tang. Also named is Anthony Chau Tin-hang, the lead prosecutor in many political cases related to the 2019 pro-democracy protests and a frequent denier of defendants’ bail requests, keeping dozens detained for over 1,000 days before conviction.

The HK government ‘strongly condemns US senators’ despicable attempt to intimidate HKSAR personnel safeguarding national security’…

“It is clear that safeguarding national security falls within the internal affairs of a sovereign jurisdiction, so the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) is free from any intervention. However, those US politicians insist on turning a blind eye to all these facts, and even clamour for so-called ‘sanctions’ against the HKSAR personnel and judges who dutifully safeguard national security. The HKSAR despises any so-called ‘sanctions’ and shall never be intimidated…”

Transit Jam on the deletion of online archives by the Ombudsman’s Office and the Transport Dept.

A couple of BBC items… A story about an Australian’s five years in the Chinese prison system. And – well over a week old, but in case you missed it – a video on the rise of informants in today’s Hong Kong, including a pro-Beijing commentator who fears the emphasis on ‘patriots’ could lead to a sort of Cultural Revolution climate.

Speaking of which – a CMP interview with the Guardian’s Tania Branigan on how China still remembers the Cultural Revolution, and comparisons with the US under Trump…

A venomous mindset was, in a sense, key to the Cultural Revolution, it was all about the weaponization of division and hatred. When I was writing the book one thing that struck me was that Mao had to say, “Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?”

Inspection tour report… For Japan’s most boring city, Nagoya is well worth a visit. Probably several. It might not quite have a distinctive vibe like Kyoto or even Fukuoka, and it’s more low-rise and less intense than, say, Tokyo or Osaka (is it just me or are the Family Mart staff especially friendly?)

But it has its share of architecture (the City Archive stairs appear in TV series Tiger With Wings), bird-watching (wetlands/estuary viewing facilities), clusters of second-hand retro clothes stores and tasteless themed cafes, creepy religious groups’ HQs, covered shopping streets, wacky subway announcements, and all the other fun Japanese things. Including, of course, food: sushi, yakitori, eel, gyoza, takoyaki stands, etc, etc – at maybe a third to half the price you would pay in Hong Kong. Not too many tourists (OK, other tourists) either. Give or take (braver-than-average) Hongkongers. Trying horse sashimi for the first time (it’s good), I noticed the guy sitting just next to me at the counter was watching the racing at Happy Valley on his phone.

The 68-year-old father of ‘absconder’ Anna Kwok is denied bail on national security grounds. He was arrested last week for attempting to obtain funds form an insurance policy of his daughter’s…

[Chief Magistrate Victor] So said on Thursday that after hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defence and reviewing all documents, there were insufficient grounds to believe that Kwok Yin-sang would not continue to engage in activities endangering national security if he was granted bail.

Links to two statements from NGOs here. The (paywalled) Economist says…

The move marks a serious escalation by the Hong Kong authorities, under pressure from Beijing, to enforce complete political control over the territory. Last year they jailed a group of 45 prominent activists who stayed in the city, for between four and ten years. But this is the first time a family member of an exiled activist has been prosecuted. In 2023 the Hong Kong government placed a bounty on several campaigners abroad, including Ms Kwok, who now leads the Hong Kong Democracy Council in Washington, accusing them of colluding with foreign forces. That can carry a sentence of life in prison. There are now 19 “wanted” activists living in exile, who have a bounty on their head. The authorities have revoked the passports of Ms Kwok and 12 others.

Their family members have faced increasing harassment. Since January police have interrogated the families of at least five of the exiled activists, says Human Rights Watch (hrw), an ngo in New York. They raided the office of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, an institution associated with Chung Kim-wah, a scholar now based in Britain, and confiscated HK$800,000 ($103,000) from the family of Ted Hui, a former lawmaker who lives in Australia, both for allegedly contravening national security.

And a cousin and cousin’s wife of activist Joe Tay – also overseas with a HK$1 million reward on him – are taken in for questioning…

Tay ran in the Canadian legislative elections last month as a member of the country’s Conservative Party. He emerged second in his district out of six candidates.

Victor So is busy these days. He sends a man to prison for a year for ‘knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention’ on Facebook posts…

Li was said to have shared news articles and photos on his Facebook account along with his commentary. His posts could be viewed publicly, but received very few responses, the court heard.

The former Citybus employee attacked the police in most of his posts, saying that the force had made “arbitrary arrests” and “used violence” to crack down on protesters during the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest.

The defendant called the police “black cops” and said the Independent Police Complaints Council, which cleared the police force of any misconduct during the 2019 protests, had “condoned” what he described as “police brutality.”

Li criticised court rulings in protest-related cases, calling some judges “stupid” and accusing them of “framing” defendants on rioting charges. He said Hong Kong’s judicial system was “fucking broken,” adding that the city’s rule of law was “dead.”

Some questions… How many Hong Kong people agree with any/most/all of Li’s comments? Would he be in the clear if he had prefaced each post with the phrase ‘in my opinion’? Does it make a difference if a defendant challenges the prosecution to provide evidence of the (little-read) posts successfully inciting any hatred? Or is it a crime to utter such thoughts even in private where no-one hears or reads them?

If this doesn’t reduce the influx of Mainland tourists, nothing will: foreigners peering out of the deathly gloom of Central in the early hours.

Spending the coming week in Japan’s most boring city.

You’re sitting on the deck of your luxury yacht sipping a pina colada. And then a Boeing 777 – engines at full 110,000-lb thrust – flies 1,000 feet over you. Repeat every two minutes. Did they think this through?

 The first phase of Hong Kong’s largest yacht marina in the Airport Authority’s ambitious SKYTOPIA development project is expected to be completed in 2028, according to Cissy Chan Ching-sze, the authority’s commercial executive director. 

The announcement comes as the Asia-Pacific superyacht market shows robust growth, with 530 vessels over 30 meters active in the region last year, of which 343 were owned by Asian nationals, according to the 2025 report from SuperYacht Times. 

After saying Hong Kong has tons of space for more non-yacht-owning tourists, Tourism Minister Rosanna Law tries to work out ways to sort out the crowding at High Island Reservoir…

She told lawmakers on Wednesday that in the past week, the number of visitors to East Dam at High Island Reservoir was just over 3,000 a day at its peak, compared to some 4,300 recorded in late March.

The secretary for culture, sports and tourism said the government doesn’t think the dam can withstand such a large number of visitors on a long-term basis, pointing out that the countryside’s capacity must be considered as part of any eco-tourism developmental effort.

“In the long run, we hope to divert the tourists visiting Hong Kong for hiking activities to different routes for a better visiting experience and to minimise the impact of visitors’ activities on individual hiking trails and countryside nature,” Law said in response to a lawmaker’s question in the Legislative Council.

Reporters Without Borders recently put Hong Kong at 140th place for press freedom, while China fell to 178th place. HKFP carries Ta Kung Pao’s reaction…

“RSF has long become a political thug, and the World Press Freedom Index has degenerated into a political smear tool in recent years,” it wrote. “Its smear of the press freedom situation in Hong Kong has reached unimaginable levels.”

From China Media Project, ‘public opinion channeling’ following a boat accident in Guizhou that claimed 10 lives (according to official reports)…

 Issued on May 4, the day of the tragedy, the agency’s official release … emphasized the action of the leadership, “Xi Jinping Issues Important Instructions on the Capsized Boat Accident,” the headline began. Xi emphasized the need to “do everything possible” in the rescue effort, and to ensure “resolutely curb the frequent occurrence of major safety accidents.” As typical under Xi Jinping, these “important instructions” were the prerogative of the top leader, while the country’s number two, the premier, made “written comments” (批示) to signal action from the top down.

From Made in China, the story behind (and politically fraught future of) a recently rediscovered late-1940s invention called ‘MingKwai’…

MingKwai was not just the first Chinese typewriter with a keyboard; it also embodied the first Chinese input method and helped lay the intellectual foundation for modern human–computer interactions…

On a slightly related note… I pick up Chinese characters at the rate of about one every few months. Not formal learning – just an ‘interesting enough to stick in my mind’ thing. The latest is the word for ‘vomit’, namely ‘嘔’. It combines two characters meaning ‘mouth’ and ‘area’, which is (to me, at least) amusingly and memorably vivid. If the beautiful Australian language was written in Chinese, the character would be made up of the words for ‘yawn’ and ‘technicolor’. 

Hong Kong’s amazing success over the May 1 Golden Week holiday was to attract huge numbers of tourists. The 1.1 million mostly Mainland visitors coming into the city represented an increase of around 20% over the previous year. However, many were not the high-spending sort we are told benefit the local economy. Social media carry photos of young Mainlanders sleeping overnight in McDonalds, while 60-strong day-trip groups paying as little as RMB40 a head were being herded around the West Kowloon parks and other cheap but photogenic spots.

CE John Lee says we ‘must welcome’ them all. I was once a youthful backpacker myself (sample of wretched nocturnal arrangements here), and I don’t begrudge elderly villagers from Pearl River backwaters a once-in-a-lifetime chance to gaze across the Fragrant Harbour. The problem is the excessive numbers of them, all going to the same spots that already have inadequate space for locals. Places are near bursting point. Either at least pedestrianize the streets and lay on enough transport – or just stop encouraging mass-tourism in this mindless pursuit of higher and higher visitor numbers. 

Unless, it’s not about tourists (as in landlords/rents) at all, but just about swamping the city with outsiders as an end in itself – perhaps some sort of collective punishment, or a way to reinforce the principle that the government runs the people, not vice-versa.

The Secretary for Stuff No-one Else Wants to Do says Hong Kong has space to cram in even more tourists. It’s a test of a) the population’s admirable patience and b) the government’s equally impressive imperviousness to public opinion. Which will break first?

Asia Times on China’s ‘deflationary death spiral’. Good example of headline writers exaggerating the gist of a story, which is interesting enough…

Tariffs are drying up international demand for Chinese goods, and in a bid to keep factories alive, Beijing is urging exporters to turn inward. However, that pivot is compounding the very problem it aims to solve.

Chinese authorities have been positioning the domestic market as a pressure-release valve for the manufacturing sector. But the influx of export-grade inventory is creating excess at home in a consumer environment that is already highly restrained. 

This is accelerating a destructive process: prices are falling, and not because productivity is rising or technology is improving. They’re falling because companies are desperate to shift stock and survive.

From religious journal First Things, a plea for a new pope with a ‘better China policy’, including blunt language from Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen/Chan…

Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Cardinal Parolin is the architect of the [Vatican-China power-sharing] deal and its chief enthusiast. Beijing has not-so-subtly signaled that he is China’s top pick for the next pope. At a press conference on April 22—one day after Pope Francis’s death—Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun dangled the prospect of “improvement of China-Vatican relations” through “continued” partnership, and no one among the leading papal candidates has more experience working with China than Cardinal Parolin. 

The deal endangers faithful clergy in China. A stark reminder of this reality came last month when the Chinese state security authorities indefinitely detained Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of the Catholic diocese of Wenzhou without due process. This is the sixty-one-year-old underground prelate’s eighth detention over the last seven years.  

…Joseph Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong accused Cardinal Parolin of “manipulating” Pope Francis into approving the deal by falsely claiming that Pope Benedict XVI had approved its draft. In an October 2020 blog post, the Hong Kong cardinal didn’t mince words: “Parolin knows he is lying, he knows that I know he is a liar, he knows that I will tell everyone that he is a liar.” 

Beijing has taken advantage of the agreement, and the Catholic Church is suffering for it. A better policy—one that does not share the pope’s important power of appointing Catholic Church leadership with an atheistic government and that supports the perpetuation of the Church through a faithful underground—is long overdue.

Fugitive activist Anna Kwok’s 68-year-old father is arrested and detained in jail for allegedly ‘attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder’. Her brother was also reportedly taken in and released on bail…

It is the first time Hong Kong authorities have charged a family member of a wanted activist under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, more commonly known as Article 23.

It is also the first prosecution for the offence that is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

According to the charge sheet, between January 4 and February 27, Kwok Yin-sang is said to have attempted to obtain funds from a life and personal accident insurance policy that belonged to Anna Kwok – who is wanted by Hong Kong authorities for suspected foreign collusion.

More on ‘absconders’. From Australia’s (paywalled) Age, the tale of how a Hong Kong lawmaker came to be an Adelaide lawyer…

To his friends and colleagues in Adelaide, he’s just Ted. To the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, Ted Hui Chi-fung is a traitor guilty of numerous heinous crimes. In Hong Kong, wanted posters for Hui have hung from noticeboards outside police stations.

In Australia, he’s the target of patriotic Chinese thugs and foreign interference campaigns…

In Hong Kong, before leaving for good…

Hui was regularly followed home from work by security officials. By July 2020, his office had been raided three times in six months.

“I was in a dangerous situation,” he recalls. “I knew that the rules of the game had changed and that this was their new tactic, that they would come up with new things and they would use whatever means to put you in jail.”

Beijing had begun implementing a new national security law, which gave the Chinese government unprecedented powers to sentence those deemed guilty of subversion to life imprisonment. In August, Hui was arrested after participating in a small protest in a local park in Tuen Mun, his childhood suburb, 11 kilometres south of the border with the mainland. He posted bail, but the Hong Kong police confiscated his passport.

And then…

COVID had shut the world’s borders. Zoom had killed in-person conferences. “For the first couple of weeks, we tried to look for real meetings to invite him to,” says [Danish activist] Storgaard. “But there were none. So we decided, ‘Let’s just make an invitation.’ ”

Storgaard, then 26, and his then 25-year-old friend Thomas Rohden, now a regional councillor for the Social-Liberal Party, got on the phone to their contacts in the Danish parliament. They rang non-government organisations, environmental groups and two Danish MPs, the Independent Greens’ Uffe Elbæk and the Conservative People’s Party’s Katarina Ammitzbøll. They convinced them to sign off on the official letter inviting Hui to a series of meetings and conferences that did not exist.

But quarantine would have prevented his scheduled court appearance on return to Hong Kong…

“So within four hours, Thomas and I had to call all the parliamentarians and NGOs and just ask them again, ‘We have this situation, we are trying to get this guy out of Hong Kong. If somebody calls you and contacts you from China, are you willing to say you’re going to have a meeting with this guy?’ And to my surprise, everybody said yes…”

…Hui did not tell Storgaard that he, too, harboured a secret: he was also going to smuggle his family out of Hong Kong.

Renee Xia, director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a US-based NGO, says the “Chinese government’s collective punishment of human rights defenders’ families appears to be a state policy”. Hui says, “My family didn’t want me to come back. They said even though we’re in trouble, they didn’t believe the regime would keep them in jail for a very long time.”

Hui was determined to avoid that outcome. “I didn’t want them to be held hostage,” he says.

Quite a story. No wonder the authorities are massively miffed about his success in fleeing. They won’t fall for it again.

A couple more HKFP pieces you might have missed…

Hong Kong falls to 140th place in the 2025 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index…

The free expression NGO said: “The main factor behind this decline is the deterioration of the political indicator (-7.28 pts), notably due to the September 2024 conviction for ‘sedition’ of Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former editors of Stand News. This is the first sedition case against the media since the UK handed over the territory in 1997.”

And an op-ed on the Hung Hom marina proposal. What or who are such marinas for? Whatever the answer, local residents don’t come into it.

The SCMP reports…

A 47-year-old Hong Kong man has undergone an amputation of his left lower leg two days after developing a Group A Streptococcal infection following acupuncture treatment he received at two traditional Chinese medicine clinics.

The Centre for Health Protection said on Tuesday the man developed a fever and left thigh pain on April 11 and subsequently sought care from a private hospital, where he was diagnosed with septic shock and necrotising fasciitis, commonly known as “flesh-eating infection”.

…“During the investigation, the team suspected that the Chinese medicine practitioner had not strictly followed infection control procedures when performing acupuncture. The investigation is still in progress,” a spokesman said.

The man started off with a strained muscle, which would have fixed itself, then went to the voodoo clincic, then – after infection set in – to a private hospital, which sent him to Queen Mary. (Not to the Baptist U ‘Chinese medicine’ facility.) 

The paper’s explainer describes the infection and urges readers to exercise caution, while quoting a ‘Chinese medicine’ guy…

Lawmaker Chan Wing-kwong, president of the Hong Kong Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioners Association, also said he believed the case was isolated and it was the first in Hong Kong. He urged the public not to panic or stop treatment.

Nowhere does it mention that acupuncture is a pseudoscience.

The government is completing a ‘Chinese medicine’ hospital at Tseung Kwan O. Interesting to read the tender info.

Some weekend reading…

Brian Kern reposts Chow Hang-tung’s recent statement on why she decided to withdraw her judicial review on the Correctional Services Dept’s refusal to let her receive four books, including Szeto Wah’s memoir. He prefaces it with a useful commentary…

It’s not hard to see why, in this new era of political censorship, prison authorities refused to deliver those last three books to Hang-tung. In fact, according to Hang-tung in her application for judicial review, the CSD did give a verbal reason for refusing the books, something to the effect of the books “containing biased descriptions of social events, which may arouse a sense of resistance to governance and pose a threat to the security and order of the institution and are not conducive to rehabilitation.”

Here, it should be noted that Hang-tung’s actually the second Hong Kong political prisoner to make an issue of being denied books. Owen Chow was the first. On December 5, 2023, he filed an application for judicial review of CSD’s decision to deny him a book that contained a reproduction of Botticelli’s famous painting, “The Birth of Venus.” When his friend who was trying to deliver it received the book back from CSD, on the page in question was a post-it note with a prison guard’s writing, “Nude! Reject!” (裸露！退!).

A Chinese immigrant’s thoughts on voting for the first time as a Canadian…

…there’s homework to do. To make an informed decision, I’ve followed election news, tuned into political podcasts, and watched the leaders’ debate. I even told my parents back in China about it—like a child announcing proudly he’s learned to ride a bike.

When my mom recently asked how Canadian elections work, I struggled to explain an electoral system that can feel bewildering to outsiders.

Sure, the concept of “riding” was easy enough for her to grasp. But how would I unpack the intricacies of “strategic voting”? Or explain that we don’t vote directly for the prime minister, but MPs who represent us in Parliament? And what was the right Chinese word for “constituency”? Before long, our conversation veered into a new recipe my mom had recently tried.

Der Spiegel tracks down Chinese mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Details of their motives and lives…

One of those contacted, though, opens up. On Douyin, he calls himself “Rabbit in the Bear Pit.” Videos show a man with a propensity for silliness. In one clip, he has stuffed animals shoved into the pockets of his military vest, another shows comrades dancing in a forest. The war is different than he thought it would be, he writes, “the ground was covered by the sleeping.” What? “By the eternally sleeping,” he specifies. Almost everyone in his unit is dead, he explains. He, too, urges his compatriots not to enlist.

He answers questions for two hours, soberly and without emotion. His responses come quickly – perhaps the conversation is a welcome change of pace. None of his comrades speak Chinese, he writes, adding that he is unable to speak English and his Russian is still poor. Still, he sends his nom de guerre in Russian: “Koshmar,” meaning “Nightmare.”

The Diplomat on growing closeness between Taiwanese who identify with the ROC but oppose unification with the PRC and those who support Taiwanese nationhood.

From the SCMP…

The number of unsold first-hand private residential units in Hong Kong’s completed projects rose to a record high last quarter as developers struggled to clear inventory at reduced prices and a global tariff war heightened economic uncertainty.

There were 28,000 unsold units as of March 31, an increase of 1,000 from the preceding quarter, according to data published by the Housing Bureau on Tuesday. The trend prompted the city’s home builders to rein in new launches for the past four quarters, it added.

Since the city’s housing market peaked in September 2021, a measure of home prices has slumped by about 29 per cent as social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic sent the local economy into a tailspin. A recovery over the past six months is in jeopardy, after US President Donald Trump rolled out his so-called reciprocal tariffs on April 2 on most of the nation’s trading partners.

Nothing some price cuts won’t fix. Well done for using the phrase ‘so-called’ appropriately. But why call it ‘social unrest’ when it was specifically political?

Which brings us to HKFP‘s report on the (not especially good) sculpture ‘Lining Up’ by Taiwan artist Ju Ming. It was installed on the Tsimshatsui waterfront in 2017. Post-2019, it was obscured ‘for renovation’ by boarding featuring photos of all the figures not wearing yellow. And now it has finally just been removed. Someone, somewhere agonized for several years over the yellow umbrella (a 2014 icon) and two figures in yellow raincoats. Whoever it is can now sleep at night.

Officials’ peculiar yacht fetish continues with plans to turn the area around Hung Hong Station into a ‘commercial and transport hub’ with a marina. A key feature will be a 50-storey tower – because Hong Kong desperately needs another one doesn’t it? (Pity they can’t build 50-storey marinas. It would use up less of the harbour.) 

The SCMP reports that…

Hong Kong’s legislature plans to amend its rules to require lawmakers to attend meetings, take part in votes and regularly submit work reports.

Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen announced the proposal on Friday, with an aim to implement the changes in the legislature’s next term.

…The proposed requirements include attending meetings, taking part in votes, maintaining contact with different sectors of society and regularly submitting work reports.

…The performance of Hong Kong’s lawmakers has come under the spotlight after a report found at least two-thirds of bills were passed in the 2023 Legco year with under half of all councillors present, falling short of the 45-member quorum requirement.

The current 90-seat Legco, formed after an election in December 2021, is the first since Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s political system to ensure that only “patriots” hold office.

Mainstream opposition parties sat out the election, with many of their leaders and former lawmakers arrested or behind bars for involvement in national security-related cases. Those still free said the patriots-only rule was meant to keep them out.

…Veteran lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun wrote on social media that she supported changing the code for legislators, noting that it would set out clear guidelines.

…“Besides following the law, lawmakers must strive for higher moral standards, actively participate in the discussions of policies, raise constructive ideas, be diligent in their work and love the people, as well as act as a bridge for residents and the government,” she said.

If two thirds of bills were passed without a quorum, how is the legislation enacted? (I guess there’s some sort of procedural let-out.)

The SCMP’s claim that opposition parties ‘sat out’ the 2021 election is presumably their idea of a joke. Not only were many formerly democratically elected lawmakers in jail, but the new ‘all-patriots’ system required all candidates to be vetted in order to weed pan-dems out, and only around a fifth of seats were elected by universal suffrage anyway. (Most voters ‘sat out’ the polls, hence a barely 30% turnout.)

Apart from some older pro-Beijing figures like the fragrant Priscilla, most of LegCo’s current members are unknown to most of the public. While making the chamber far less representative, the government for some reason also expanded the number of seats to from 60 to 90, so it’s not just people you’ve never heard of, but loads of people you’ve you’ve never heard of. (Salaries are HK$100,000 a month, plus over double that in expenses.)

With many/most lawmakers now pretty much hand-picked and not representing actual districts – and debates and votes inevitably reflecting the administration’s positions – few Hong Kong people nowadays pay much attention to LegCo. Hardly surprising if that includes the members themselves.

Just in from HKFP: four of the pan-dems have just been released from prison. Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Jeremy Tam, and Kwok Ka-ki were all popularly elected, and will no doubt still be recognized by many passers-by when they walk down the street.

From the Guardian – posts on UK social media invite racists to attack Hong Kong activists in exile…

[Finn] Lau and his fellow activists have been called traitors, with bounties on their heads that are three times what the authorities offer for murderers. Relatives back home have been arrested and intimidated. As he read the posts, Lau suspected a chilling new tactic: an attempt to harness far-right violence.

Working with the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, the Guardian found more than 150 posts from 29 accounts on three days in August 2024 that sought to draw the attention of anti-immigrant groups and the far right to Lau and other Hong Kong exiles. Cybersecurity experts who have reviewed the posts say they exhibited some similarities to a major online influence operation that a Chinese security agency is suspected of orchestrating.

HKFP on Hongkongers going to the Mainland to enjoy far lower-priced shopping and leisure…

During the four-day Easter holiday last week, around 1.86 million Hong Kong residents left the city, with around 1.6 million heading to mainland China, according to the Immigration Department.

Meanwhile, the number of travellers visiting Hong Kong over the Easter holiday only reached over half a million.

The tourism deficit has left the city’s shopping malls and restaurants reeling.

Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, reckoned the city’s food and beverage industry suffered a 30 per cent drop in business during this year’s Easter holiday.

All of which leaves Hong Kong sorely vexed. They view people spending across the border rather like Donald Trump sees cheap imported manufactured goods: somehow bad for the economy even though it’s good for consumers.  

The difference is that Trump doesn’t understand the basic economics, while Hong Kong policymakers have a clear rationale. To them, money spent on groceries and personal services in Shenzhen is money that doesn’t flow into the pockets of Hong Kong landlords. This depresses land valuations, which in turn reduces government revenues, which in turn threatens expenditure on mega-projects and – horror of horrors – bureaucrats’ generous salaries.

But what did they think ‘integration’ would mean?