The Hang Seng Index suffers a modest plunge as insurers, banks and property developers worry that Beijing’s new drive to tax decades of offshore income will dissuade wealthy Mainlanders from parking their money in Hong Kong. Some observers will wonder why China’s increasingly cash-strapped authorities took so long to sort out the loopholes that allow Hong Kong (and other jurisdictions) to benefit from Mainlanders dodging taxes and capital controls. The city’s officials, who love to push family offices, insurance products, etc, put a brave face on it. (And they have pro-democracy shops to deal with.)
In Asia Times, the boss of a financial advisory company points out that many countries will want to widen their tax nets in the coming years. The twist is that Beijing’s new measures are retroactive…
Wealthy families are being asked to settle gains from windows chosen with little public rationale, with their accounts based in China frozen until they pay. It’s the act of a government working backward from how much money it needs toward whoever still happens to have some.
What wealthy families fear in a moment like this is rarely the tax rate itself. Rates are negotiable and can be planned around years in advance. What can’t be planned around is a government reserving the right to rewrite the deal after the fact, which is why the response to that kind of risk is exit over negotiation.
An HKFP op-ed looks at overseas scholarships – the latest national-security threat to face Hong Kong. The author recalls his own experience of a study trip to Germany in 1969…
The thing which most impressed the English contingent was the slot machine in the entrance hall of our castle, which dispensed cans of beer. As the sale of booze in England was still surrounded by restrictions on places, times and ages, this was a pleasant surprise, and the machine did a lot of business.
That wasn’t the half of it. Truly enterprising British exchange students in Germany many decades ago discovered soon upon arrival that the local beer-vending machines accepted UK 5p (or shilling) coins as Deutschemarks, which were worth around five times as much. Underage drinkers got their booze – and at 20% of the actual price.
Some weekend reading and viewing…
A Taipei Times editorial on Beijing’s withdrawal of The Belief (澎湖海戰), a movie about the Qing Dynasty’s early moves to take control of Taiwan…
In the past few months, there has been a noticeable increase among the Chinese public of interest in, and affiliation with, the Ming Dynasty, the last indigenous Han Chinese dynasty before the 1911 revolution. The sentiment, branded the “1644 historical perspective” (1644史觀), has become tied up with a trend called “Mourning the Ming” (悼明風). Both ideas take a nostalgic look at the supposed economic prosperity during the Ming Dynasty and place the blame for the decline in China’s fortunes at the feet of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which began in 1644.
The problem for the CCP is that it wanted a propaganda vehicle for advancing the idea of the historical inevitability of the defeat of “Taiwanese separatists”: What it got was public scrutiny of the historical facts.
Too Simple, Sometimes Naive (a Substack blog – and of course a Jiang Zemin quote about Hong Kong reporters) looks at the fate of one Edward Kuperman, an American ‘influencer’ churning out pro-China videos on the payroll of a Gansu state media operation…
… former Global Times Editor, and infamous nationalist commentator, Hu Xijin felt compelled to weigh in.
‘Some netizens accuse Kuperman of being a spy… but they are just trying to sabotage his lucrative job‘, said Hu on Weibo, dismissing the rumours, but also repeating them.
He added: “In the media Lao Hu used to work, foreigners never received such a salary.” That’s true. Global Times are notorious in Beijing circles for their low salaries — perhaps explaining the tabloid’s often irritable tone.
…media centres are part-local state media, part-tourist boards, who often utilise foreign faces for international exposure, to mixed success. Ever wonder why cities like Chongqing or Zibo keep going viral? Or why YouTubers keep flocking to the same places in China?
For those interested in the debate over whether Hong Kong cinema’s glory days are over, or who like seeing authentic stunts and effects rather than CGI/AI, or are just into mindless gore – if you don’t mind seeing the ending – the totally nuts final scene of 1992 Hong Kong movie Angel Terminators.
When I googled: where can I get a T-shirt with the words “Sorry, this page cannot be found”, two of the first three search results were for China Daily …
Re link to “Pro-democracy retailer ordered to make multiple rectifications as Buildings Dep’t threatens court”
Would that BD would display the same enthusiasm when it comes to other breaches of regulations.
My building has no fire door to its emergency exit, in fact there is no door at all. Apart from security issues, it allows rats in the alley free passage.
That this situation has been tolerated for years is inexplicable. That enforcement action has not been taken despite six months of complaints from resident underlines where the priorities of government depts now lie.