The big news in Hong Kong today is the Chief Executive’s 2017 Policy Address. One small snag: I can’t bring myself to look through it properly. But a quick glance at the list of contents suggests it is the politically correct, buzzword-laden drivel we would expect.
It starts with the National 13th Five-Year like-we-give-a-damn Plan – Beijing’s own contrived, Stalin-inspired, mega-Policy Address. Then the ‘Professional Services’ section mentions the redundant CEPA (a vacuous cross-border-commerce PR-stunt from 10 years back) and the hyped-up HK-wannabe hub-zone real-estate plays Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin. Further on, the government will be opening another dozen or so Economic and Trade Offices in Mexico, Russia, South Africa and various mainland cities, to be staffed by civil servants doing God-knows-what all day long.
A straight-faced finger-wagging goes out to ‘Hong Kong independence’ somewhere here. Yes, the same ‘Hong Kong independence’ CY and his Communist Party buddies spent the last couple of years contriving, nurturing and exaggerating. And got fired for a month or so back. You have to hand it to the guy for shamelessness and total bone-headedness.
As well as numerous, expensive Belt and Road initiatives, Hong Kong will sign visa-free agreements with Belarus and Cambodia to ‘facilitate movement’ of these scumbag regimes’ citizens. Something called ‘People-to-people Bonds’ will absorb more taxpayer money, also in aid of Belt and Road. There is lots of Belt and Road, obviously, and also the ever-mysterious ‘super-connector’ concept-theme.
Not that we’re desperate or anything, but Major New Excitements Coming Soon: global offshore Renminbi business (again), data centres and an aircraft-leasing hub!
The South China Morning Post introduces the Dazzling Space-age Tech part of the policy address with the headline ‘New mentality needed on innovation’ – neatly encapsulating the tautological/bureaucratic/head-up-backside government approach to the subject (I presume, not having actually read the thing). The Standard’s headline on our soon-to-be ex-leader’s number-one policy challenge is ‘CY’s Goodbye Homes Pledge’, which sounds as if he is admitting that Hongkongers can abandon any hope of affording a place to live.
Major freak-out you’d-never-believe-it shock: West Kowloon Cultural District to include Luxury Apartment Scam for developers.
Further down, we have the usual box-ticking stuff about education, air quality, pedestrian facilities, the elderly and an array of other things officials are determined to ignore, plus various no-hope schemes to push private medical insurance, attract high-quality talent and enhance healthy lifestyles and rule of law in caverns to celebrate the yippee-yippee 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to the Motherland. We will spend countless millions and billions on correct or fashionable lost causes such as the promotion of Chinese culture among youth, elite sports and, as if Tseung Kwan O wasn’t sufficiently benighted and voodoo-ridden, a ‘Chinese medicine’ hospital.
On a brighter note: lawmaker-tycoon Michael Tien was on the radio this morning complaining bitterly that CY ignored the needs of the ‘retail sector’ – so it’s not all bad.
If Carrie Lam wants a simple, symbolic break with the past and her three disastrous predecessors as Chief Executive, she would scrap the Policy Address as the tired and pointless ritual it is. The relief…
By popular demand, some more exhibits from Zhongshan’s old-tech Radio Museum…
You’re not seeing the subtle connections here – the aircraft leasing hub (that word again!) helps to justify the otherwise unnecessary third runway – in addition to the anticipated thousands of planeloads of Cambodians and Belarussians coming to visit Disneyland.
You also didn’t mention the subsidies to schools for teaching Chinese history – otherwise known as national education by the back door. Watch this syllabus!
“87. The Government continues to take forward two planning and engineering studies related to the Kai Tak Fantasy project, and will consult the public this year on the design plan of the runway tip and the preliminary proposals for development of the Kwun Tong Action Area.”
Kai Tak Fantasy Project and runway tip? Well at least that bit of the address is on the mark.
Also, the great movie country of Iran (remember all those blockbusters: ‘How I Built a Nuclear Bomb and Got Away with It’ and ‘Men with No Ties’) will be invited to shoot movies in Hong Kong, it is all part of the Belt/Road nonsense.
Can’t wait to watch those masterpieces.
In a few months time we won’t be talking about 689, Paul Chan, Rimsky Yuen and Vagina Ip anymore. With a little luck, not even about Lamb Currie. What are we going to talk about then ?
Get down to your local park this weekend, it may be gone by Monday.
Apart from gifting Wanchai Sports Ground to TDC, read New World Development, for the usual $1,000, other plans to enhance our open spaces include
– shopping mall under the outdoor swimming pool at Kowloon Park
– more shops under the Bird Pond at Kowloon Park
– shopping mall under the large grassy area at Victoria Park
– underground space under Southern Playground, a ploy to empty the adjacent government building to sell it off for commercial, with some retail natch.
But never mind we can all sit at home in our sub divided units playing ‘trendy and novel’ VR games.
Granting that the Iran/movie thing is weird and out of the blue, please be aware that the Iranian film industry is a real and wonderful thing. In the face of threats, censorship, and bans by the ayatollahs, Iranian filmmakers continue to produce one excellent work after another.
The headline made me laugh out loud.
One note: While it’s true that CEPA has had minimal positive effect on business interests in all sectors, in relation to the HK movie industry it has quite effectively ratcheted up the self-censorship quotient among filmmakers desperate to get mainland investment capital, and ultimately their product into mainland theaters. This, of course, was the primary goal of the policy from its inception.
Southern or Southorn Playground? Admittedly, I’m no HKer…
Apologies Southorn of course, Wanchai.
And hopefully nobody is fooled by the list of 26 new recreational facilities to be provided. Many of them are long overdue, like a public swimming pool in Tin Shui Wai with a population of almost 300,000.
Others are either converting existing swimming pools to heated – lets face it HK is a city of Wimps – or facilities that are mandated under the HK Planning Standards and Guidelines for new communities.
Will they be in place when the residents move in? Don’t hold your breath.
As to Tin shui Wai swimming pool, the present one is dangerous due to the wholly inappropriate design and inadequate life guard standards as a result of which at least one young person was rendered a tetraplegic.
Plus Hong Kong really needs more shops.