Latest national-security threat: restaurants

RTHK reports…

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said all restaurant licences would have national security clauses by September.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department introduced the clauses in licence renewals for restaurants in May last year, prohibiting business activities that endanger national security.

…The clauses, he added, act as a constant reminder to restaurant managers and staff to protect national security.

Tse said no violations to the national security clauses have been found so far. 

Why should there be? How can a restaurant threaten the security of the nation? Can you leak blueprints for nuclear submarines in a dumpling? Can a steak be subversive? Can congee collude with foreign powers?

Better safe than sorry. From HKFP…

The Hong Kong government has appointed a former top police officer to head the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. 

The government said in a Monday statement that Albert Yuen, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) from 2021 to 2023, was “identified as the most suitable candidate.” His appointment took effect on Tuesday. 

…Yuen is the latest in a line of former police officers to take up office in government departments. In May, John Tse, who served as chief superintendent of the police force’s public relations branch, took up office as head of the Information Services Department (ISD). 

Doesn’t look like much of a step up – from deputy police commissioner to head of FEHD, though the nearly-HK$300,000 a month salary isn’t bad. Maybe ‘yellow’ outlets are due for even tougher inspections. Perhaps someone somewhere wants a steady supply of former cops in the pipeline for when the current ones in top positions move up or out. 

Or… maybe restaurants really are a NatSec threat. Poke a soufflé with a spoon and just feel the soft resistance.