Big Lychee, Various Sectors

Some reading from the weekend…

Bloomberg report on Hong Kong migrants in the UK unable to get their Mandatory Provident Fund savings…

Leo moved to Manchester in 2022 on his BN(O) passport, and in March 2023 started the process of claiming the £50,000 ($65,000) from his HSBC pension account in Hong Kong. The core issue, he said, is that the bank won’t recognize his BN(O) passport as an official document that would allow him to access the cash.

And although he should be able to withdraw the money when he turns 65, he needs the cash now and is concerned about the Hong Kong stock market, which the money is heavily invested in. The Hang Seng Index, which is composed of the largest companies that trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is down more than 39% since a peak in February 2021.

A HSBC spokesperson said it follows the MPFA’s requirements for processing early withdrawals.

“In the case of permanent departure, scheme members are required to provide evidence of the right of abode outside of Hong Kong,” the spokesperson said. “The MPFA has publicly confirmed that a BN(O) passport cannot be used as such evidence.”

The MPF authority and HSBC are implementing a political decision the government made presumably to make life harder for those leaving Hong Kong. (As a sovereign nation, the UK has the right to grant residency to anyone it wants – but Beijing reacted badly to London’s measure for BNO passport holders.) The wider problem here is that the rule sets a precedent. If NatSec Hong Kong can arbitrarily block access to one group’s retirement savings, how can anyone be sure it won’t happen to others? For example, as retaliation against a particular country’s citizens, or to penalize individuals engaging in ‘soft resistance’, or just other emigrants?

Titles pulled from book fair…

The Trade Development Council has reminded exhibitors at the Hong Kong Book Fair to abide by national security laws after the organizer advised the removal of five books by former lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun and veteran journalist Allan Au Ka-lun from shelves.

According to Ng Chi-ching, a representative of publisher Bbluesky, the HKTDC had repeatedly approached the company prior to the start of the seven-day book fair to “remind” it to remove two sensitive books authored by Au and Shiu, despite these books being allowed in last year’s fair.

On Saturday, HKTDC staff insisted that a total of five books be removed, including “The Last Faith,” “Turbulence” and “2047 Nights” by Au, as well as “The Psychology of Imprisonment” and “Words from Within the Prison” by Shiu.

The HKTDC claimed the cited books contained “sensitive” content without specifying the reasons, saying they had received “complaints” about the material.

Only ‘insensitive’ books are allowed!

HKFP op-ed on the government’s longstanding strange hang-up about outdoor dining, despite its obvious popularity among both local people and the ever-so-important tourists…

Years ago, you found them all over the place; Luard Road, for example. A much wider road than traffic required, the Wan Chai thoroughfare was regularly reduced to two lanes by a row of street food stalls on each side.

Over the years they have gradually disappeared. This does not appear to be the result of a lack of custom. Most observers diagnose a classic case of official hostility.

There are numerous possible explanations for the al fresco phobia. One is that officials on principle detest the whole concept of cheap or rent-free space for small businesses. Another (related) one is that they want consumers to dine in buildings owned by landlords, either to look after the tycoons or to prop up land values. A third is that much of the street food – curry squid balls! – is unhealthy and they care about you symbolizes Hong Kong local culture, when the emphasis today must be on Chinese identity. A fourth is that officials want space for private cars to park rather than for the other 90% to use. A fifth is that authentic grassroots nightlife embarrasses the geniuses who dreamed up the dismal fake Night Vibes stuff. 

We could go on and on. But the most likely reason is simply bureaucratic laziness: why organize tiresome hygiene inspections and sanitation, when you can just ban the whole thing?

Still lots of street food in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea – and the Mainland. 

An SCMP article looks at yet more Hong Kong residents going to Shenzhen on their days off – overseas domestic helpers…

They gathered at 7.30am at the Lo Wu checkpoint and took a two-hour bus ride to the destination, a resort offering natural scenery and amusement rides.

She had a thrilling time walking on a glass bridge, experienced the chill of artificial snow, and had a blast riding a roller coaster and a bumper car. The group returned to Hong Kong at around 8.30pm.

The tour package included a group visa, a lunch meal, a tour guide, a bus ride, insurance and entrance fees, and cost HK$350 (US$45) per person. Candaza said she spent about HK$300 more on street food, snacks and souvenirs.

…The growing interest in exploring the mainland among helpers has boosted the business of travel agencies offering low-fare day trips across the border.

Filipino Rizza Mae Zorilla Zubiaga, a 30-year-old former helper, now works part-time gathering helpers for such tours organised by a travel agency, after she went on the trips herself while working in Hong Kong last year.

She said she had seen more helpers signing up for the tours since the border reopening. She brought about 10 to 20 helpers to join the day trips every Sunday or every other Sunday, with more joining on public holidays.

Also in SCMP – Hongkongers are going to Shenzhen and beyond for quicker and cheaper medical treatment. Some scary stats on waiting times for procedures in Hong Kong public hospitals…

“I make these long, arduous trips across the border to get life-saving medication I cannot afford in Hong Kong,” 59-year-old Liu said.

Single and living alone, she quit her job in social services after she was diagnosed with lung cancer more than two years ago.

Then the cancer spread to her brain. She was told she needed a targeted drug which would cost more than HK$30,000 (US$3,800) a month in Hong Kong.

Unable to afford it, she went to mainland China, where the same medicine cost about 5,000 yuan (US$687) a month, less than a fifth of that in Hong Kong.

…Experts said the trend was largely market-driven, but also reflected the state of Hong Kong’s overwhelmed public medical system, with its notoriously long waiting times, while private care was beyond the reach of most people.

Meanwhile, lawmakers struggling to think up suggestions for the CE’s policy address call for Hong Kong to be a ‘healthcare hub’ for Mainlanders blah blah.

Happening later today Hong Kong time – at the Hudson Institute…

In recent years, the city has emerged as a top sanctions violator, a money laundering hub, and a transshipment center that plays a key role in providing Russia dual-use technology for its war effort. 

Experts will discuss new evidence of how the Chinese Communist Party is using Hong Kong to sow instability and conflict around the world and how the United States can better counter these illicit activities.

Angry press release on the way…

Despite relocating to Taiwan a few months ago, RFA has not forgotten its former base, reporting at some length on the falling number of school children in the city…

Hong Kong is expecting a sharp fall in the number of primary-school-aged children following a mass exodus of middle-class families fleeing a crackdown on political dissent.

The city’s Bureau of Education estimates, based on August 2023 population data from the Census and Statistics Department, that the number of 6-year-olds will fall by 31% from 49,600 in 2024 to 34,100 in 2030.

Many who have left the city did so citing political repression under a draconian security law, along with what they regard as the brainwashing of children in the form of “patriotic” and “national security” classes that are now mandatory from kindergarten to university, as the government encourages people to inform on each other.

…While the population showed a slight uptick following the scrapping of COVID-19 travel curbs, birth rates in the city haven’t caught up, with the number of newborns falling by 38% between 2019 and 2022, according to government data.

…Last month, the Education Bureau sparked a public backlash when it criticized Hong Kong’s schoolchildren for their “weak” singing of China’s national anthem, the “March of the Volunteers,” at flag-raising ceremonies that are now compulsory as part of patriotic “national security” education from kindergarten through to universities.

…Meanwhile, city officials are holding events to encourage praise for ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

The Education Bureau on Monday held an event at Pui Kiu Middle School to mark the first anniversary of the school’s receipt of a letter from Xi.

There’s more to come…

Speaking to reporters after the submission, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), Starry Lee, said it is the right time to put forward patriotic education.

“It is the right time to do so. First of all, our country [has] our own policy and legislation to govern that. Hong Kong, as part of the country, [we are obligated] to do that. We understand…it will further make ‘One Country, Two Systems’ a more effective system for our own country,” she explained.

Another idea from a lawmaker ahead of the CE’s policy address…

Hong Kong should again allow mainland women whose spouses are not permanent residents to give birth in the city with the aim of increasing the population to 10 million in a decade, Election Committee lawmaker Dennis Lam Shun-chiu has suggested.

…”If Hong Kong wants to maintain competitiveness, it needs to formulate a long-term plan to boost the population to 10 million within 10 years so as to promote sustainable economic growth,” he said while pointing out that the mainland’s international financial hubs, Beijing and Shanghai, each have populations of more than 20 million.

How does boosting the population promote sustainable economic growth?

Some weekend reading and viewing…

Video interview with Michael Pettis on the effect of falling property prices in China. “Low real estate prices are better for the economy than high ones. Higher property prices make some richer but others poorer.”

At least it’s not the End Times – the Guardian looks at the growing belief that China is entering a new, trashier, era…

In recent weeks, Chinese chat groups and WeChat feeds have been buzzing with discussion of whether China has entered a period of economic stagnation or regression in which failure is all but inevitable, called a “garbage time of history”.

The sentiment can be summed up by a graphic, widely shared on social media – and since censored on Weibo.

Entitled the “2024 misery ranking grand slam”, it tallies up the number of misery points that a person might have earned in China this year. The first star is unemployment. For two stars, add a mortgage. For a full suite of eight stars, you’ll need the first two, plus debt, childrearing, stock trading, illness, unfinished housing and, finally, hoarding Moutai, a famous brand of baijiu, a sorghum liquor.

(Helpful tip: if you’ve ever drunk Kweichow Moutai – HK$3,000-plus a bottle – and thought it utterly revolting, it’s because it needs to be accompanied by the extremely spicy and sour cuisine of southwestern China. You’re welcome.)

Also in the Guardian – single Chinese women go to Prague to freeze their eggs.

Center for European Policy Analysis piece sees ‘recent purges, disappearances, and mysterious deaths among officials’ as a sign that the CCP’s days are numbered… 

A foreign minister (Qin Gang) disappeared and no one, except Xi and his henchmen, knew if he was dead or alive.  A popular former premier (Li Keqiang) drowned.  His death was uninvestigated and unexplained.  Two ministers of defense (Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu) were purged in late June.  They were both expelled from the CCP; which heralds further punishment down the line.

An estimated 120 high-ranking officials, including military officers, executives of state-owned enterprises, and national leaders, have departed, in one way or another (including commanders of the People’s Liberation Army rocket force, a key element of the military.) These recent arrests mark something new.

It’s true that in the 14 years since he came to power, Xi’s security forces have arrested, sentenced, or executed approximately 2.3 million government officials. But few were of such seniority.

But Qin Gang is recognized as still alive…

Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister who disappeared from public view more than a year ago, has lost his seat as a member of the elite Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party.

The decision was reviewed during the Politburo meeting held earlier this month and formally endorsed at the four-day meeting of the third plenary session, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday, citing a communique from the meeting.

The wording suggests he is not under criminal investigation.

There continues to be much speculation about the fate of China’s shortest-serving foreign minister, whose disappearance the ministry attributed to “health reasons”.

Can Hong Kong ever devise a publicly funded project – especially of the ‘hub’ variety – that doesn’t end up with a real-estate play? RTHK says…

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will be allowed to sell residential developments within Zone 2 of the site and keep all proceeds received from tenders to private developers.

This means the development of hotels, offices and residential blocks in the zone will no longer be restricted by the “Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) only” model adopted since 2016.

…”Instead of having a constant stream of income in the many years in future, we are now cashing in for a lump sum upfront, which could help release the financial challenges or the requirement at present.”

The authority will have to meet certain requirements, including a triennial cap on operating deficits and a cap on the percentage of staff costs in relation to the total annual operating expenditure.

The body’s chairman, Henry Tang, said they can now avoid “drastic” cost-cutting measures such as reducing the number of days each week that the M+ museum is open.

The Standard gushes about the ‘exclusive community’ that will take shape amid the cultural treasures.

Does Hong Kong want a showcase or not? If you’ve ever been to the amazing range of museums and galleries on the Mall in Washington DC, or the British Museum, or the Louvre, or even the tiny but horrifying Museum of Parasitology in Tokyo, you will notice that they don’t survive by amputating parts of ‘Zone 2’ of their property for developers to build luxury apartment blocks. If it serves the public good to use taxpayers’ money to keep such facilities running (and we happily fund public schools and libraries), then just do it. Why fetishize ‘not straining the public coffers’?

(And why is Henry Tang the poor schmuck heading this up? The guy should be on display in a museum, not figurehead-running the things.)

In its editorials, the Wall Street Journal comes across as a stern critic of authoritarian regimes and a defender of individual liberty. But in real life, it seems it’s as ready to do a pre-emptive kowtow as any multinational bank or German trade minister. The paper fires Selina Cheng for taking part in the election for chair of the HK Journalists Association. 

A statement from her is here. According to Xinqi Su, WSJ sees a conflict of interest if an employee is promoting press freedom in her personal life while potentially writing about press freedom in her professional one. OK – so you can sort of see the point, though it’s close to saying a reporter can’t write about breathing or eating if she breathes or eats. We couldn’t think of a better argument.

The obvious context: the HKJA has recently been denounced by Hong Kong officials and Beijing’s Global Times.

Chief Executive John Lee wants young people to stick to private-sector homes…

Hong Kong’s leader has called on young people not to waste “potential and opportunities” by “deliberately” depressing their income below the limit allowed to apply for public housing.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, … Lee said he had heard of some people ensuring that their earnings remained below the monthly income limit in an effort to be allocated a government-subsidised unit.

…The chief executive urged young people to work towards their aspirations and to reconsider settling for public housing. “If you give up on your dreams simply because of a public housing unit, I believe that would be regrettable,” he said.

It’s not regrettable at all. The amount of wealth you can accumulate over the years by not paying private-sector rental or mortgage payments makes applying for a public flat an entirely rational move. 

If you want public housing reserved for the genuinely poor, you need private housing that is affordable to the rest. Instead, Hong Kong administrations even now work to keep land – thus private-sector homes – expensive. (Indeed, they’ve distorted the market so much that some newer private-sector apartments are, if anything, smaller than the public ones.)

One (implicit) reason officials are squeamish about evicting relatively well-off tenants from public housing is that it would mean financially semi-ruining them. A family on around HK$40,000 a month – roughly 50% above median household income – could see rent multiply from, say, 10% to 50% of their income. 

(Hate to ask, but, as someone who spent most of his working life as a cop, has John Lee ever paid market rates for housing?)

On the subject of household incomes – some people’s are going to take a hit…

Some of China’s largest state-backed financial firms are asking employees in Hong Kong to return a portion of their pay, extending President Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” campaign to the offshore business hub.

Some Hong Kong-based executives and even former employees at China Everbright Group and China Huarong International Holdings have been asked to pay back part of their past bonus in recent months…

The clawback amounts to less than 10 percent of bonuses at China Everbright, the main Hong Kong-listed arm of Everbright Group … after the central government inspected its local operations.

It is unclear how many employees will be impacted by the policy and how far it will extend below the executive ranks.

The development marks an escalation of austerity efforts at state-owned financial conglomerates, which have so far mainly limited pay for mainland-based employees.

Chinese bankers have come under increasing pressure in recent years as the Communist Party tightened its grip on the US$66 trillion (HK$514.8 trillion) financial sector, where high pay has also drawn public criticism.

Xi’s signature drive has sent shock waves through China’s financial industry since it was rolled out in 2021.

Won’t ‘even former employees’ be entitled to tell their old company in no uncertain terms to drop dead?

HK47 mitigation hearings will be suspended for a month or so, for reasons that are unclear. Something else for yesterday’s ‘fact sheets’ to explain.

Following a regular UN review of Hong Kong, all-patriots lawmakers vie with one another to think up ways the city’s ‘civil force’ – business folk and (no doubt publicly subsidized) sports and cultural figures – can counter foreign criticism of Hong Kong’s human rights situation…

Holden Chow said [Chief Secretary Eric] Chan had “relentlessly rebutted the smearing” from the West, while Priscilla Leung hailed Chan’s rebuttal as “pulling no punches.”

…“Foreign powers have long weaponised and politicised human rights to gain advantage over bilateral works with [China] and [Hong Kong],” Ma Fung-kwok said in Cantonese.

“It is a form of international struggle. While the UN makes a platform for officials, it’s more important that the civil force knows what to do” when faced with foreign criticism, he added.

…Junius Ho, who spoke during a UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva in March, said more NGOs in the city should apply for a status that would allow them to participate in UN hearings.

…Nixie Lam suggested the government organise mock UN hearings for young people dedicated to international lobbying, while Carmen Kan asked Chan to prepare fact sheets about the city’s security for members of business sector.

They said that could better equip residents to be able to “tell a good Hong Kong story” – referring to the government’s bid to shape a positive image of the city internationally.

Reflecting the official stance, the legislators’ assumption is that better communication can somehow ‘correct’ overseas perceptions of what is happening. No-one dares suggest that rounding up and jailing pan-dems or arresting people for wearing T-shirts is abnormal and not compatible with an international reputation as a free society.

Nor does anyone want to warn of the danger that Hong Kong’s businessmen and athletes could become pitied around the world as fact-sheet-wielding bores.

Regina in LegCo quizzing officials on their reluctance to change the taxi licensing system and enable ride-hailing services to operate legally. How, she asks, can the authorities still allow speculators to hold and trade the colonial-era permits for perpetuity?

Some might be puzzled that Reg is displaying a slightly maverick view. She does occasionally have one – such as support for gay rights. And, judging from some other lawmakers’ comments, it’s not unpatriotic, seditious or whatever to criticize the official (and wishy-washy) line on this particular issue. Public opinion clearly welcomes ride-hailing services. 

So she is not proclaiming herself an authentic radical and woman of the people here. Nor is she ‘jeopardizing’ her chances of ever getting to be CE. Leaving her age (73) aside, neither the office of CE nor the sort of people Beijing will pick, are what they were – and she must know that. I would guess she clings on to legislative and other positions out of self-regard more than anything else. 

But we can surmise something quite specific about her. And that is that the extended Ip – or at least Lau – clan are not among those establishment families that invested in the 18,100 taxi licenses back in the old days. Those people, who have probably never touched a Toyota steering wheel in their lives, are classic rent-seekers enjoying yields perhaps comparable to those of long-term landlords sitting on multiple small properties bought decades ago. 

Unlike apartments, new permits for public vehicles could be created overnight by the thousands. And that would happen, in effect, if and when Uber etc are legalized. Which might be why the bureaucrats are so desperate not to make a decision, because some – perhaps well-connected – investors are then certain to see a sharp fall in asset value and income. (The income comes from the drivers who rent the vehicles, typically on a per-half-day basis. No-one in this saga gives a damn about them.) 

The officials’ big idea is to allow existing cab owners to combine and form branded ‘taxi fleets’ that would accept online booking. Net result: some current red/green taxis become cosplay ride-hailing services. Uber etc remain at best in a legal gray zone. RTHK adds…

Transport minister Lam Sai-hung said on Sunday …the administration’s study does not take the price of taxi licences into consideration, adding that officials have the overall public interest in mind…

For those of us fortunate enough to be able to huddle up next to an air-conditioner all day – HKFP talks to people working outdoors in Hong Kong’s recent heat.

More HK47 mitigation pleas – Winnie Yu, founder of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance in 2019 – has her statement cut short…

She cited the Hong Kong government’s failure to contain community outbreaks during the Covid-19 pandemic as one the reasons she had hoped to stand for election, adding that it was “unheard of in other democratic countries” to be accused of subverting state power for attempting to run in legislative elections.

…“Even now, I am still of the view that there is nothing wrong in bringing changes to the established order through voting in the legislature. Perhaps the only wrong I have committed was that I love Hong Kong too much,” Shek read from Yu’s mitigation letter, before he was cut off by judge Andrew Chan.

The judge said Yu’s statement was “not a mitigation letter at all,” bearing no indication of remorse from the former unionist.

From the Standard…

“This is not a mitigating letter, it’s a political speech…do not say so in my court,” [NatSec judge Andrew] Chan said.

[Yu’s lawyer, barrister Randy] Shek argued that when one expresses regret for something that has been done, people may question their motives or sincerity.But Chan dismissed him, saying: “Then don’t mitigate! You don’t have to mitigate. You see? That’s fine.”

Looking through the full list of names, you see a number of people including Yu, Chu Hoi-dick, Lam Cheuk-ting, Jeremy Tam, Gwyneth Ho and others, who could have been impressive political figures contributing to policymaking if Hong Kong had been allowed to have a representative system of government. Eddie Chu, for example, knew (and thought) more about land policy than any of the usual officials who never manage to address the housing issue.

Hong Kong’s numerous talent-attraction schemes have drawn some 300,000 applicants so far, with 200,000 approved. This must come close to matching the outflow of (mainly) middle-class expatriate and local residents during the Covid/Nat-Sec era. A partially effective way of trying to keep the population numbers (or at least property prices) up.

One slightly surprising piece of news: Hong Kong’s inequality has declined. Not (it seems) that anyone has become less poor – just that the better off have suffered a decline in net wealth, or emigrated.

Some weekend reading…From Made in China – another look at Beijing’s version of Qing-era history…

[British Museum exhibition] ‘China’s Hidden Century’ drew a wave of harsh, combative criticism from Chinese academics … hey wrote that the primary issue with the exhibition was its ‘wrong’ historiography and distorted interpretation of Chinese history. They argued that, instead of portraying the Qing as a Chinese dynasty defined by unambiguously Chinese characters, the display presented it as a multinational polity under Manchu rule that conquered and colonised diverse territories, including both Han-inhabited China proper and non-Han areas such as Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia. The exhibition’s biggest historiographic mistake, according to Xia and Cui, was framing China as part of the multinational Qing Empire, rather than viewing the Qing as a transient historical period of China. They alleged that this distorted view could have serious political implications—undermining China’s territorial unity, separating ethnic minority territories from the rest of China, and legitimising efforts by anti-China forces to divide the country.

Singaporean boss of Sino Land Robert Ng applies for a non-Chinese cross-border travel permit. Especially useful if you go to the Mainland frequently and are a citizen of a country whose citizens don’t get long-term multiple-entry visas or visa-free entry. 

The new system looks like a post-Covid/NatSec attempt to help bolster Hong Kong’s attraction as an international hub for Mainland business and location for expats. For a couple of decades now, I recall people wondering why you can’t just use a permanent resident’s HKID to go up to Shenzhen, if not Shanghai or Beijing. 

If you’re interested, see Tripperhead’s ‘somewhat helpful’ (certainly better than anything else) guide to applying for the new permit. It’s a surprisingly – or maybe unsurprisingly – tedious process. Presumably, Chinese officials still want to have some advance warning of who’s coming. (Maybe some applicants will be rejected. I know one non-Chinese Hong Kong permanent resident who gets turned away from Macau.)

My last multiple-entry visa expired a few years back. I haven’t checked whether my passport allows me to do a 72-hour visa-free visit or something. Frankly, not having a visa is a wonderful excuse for not going to the Mainland.

Claudia Mo gets a supporting letter from Abraham Shek to help her mitigation in the HK47 case.

SCMP reports on the ‘Dragon Slaying’ bomb plot trial…

An alleged core member of the “Dragon Slaying Brigade” has accused Hong Kong police of using threats to force him into giving false statements after his arrest over a thwarted bomb plot targeting officers during the anti-government protests in 2019.

Christian Lee Ka-tin told the High Court on Tuesday that following his arrest in 2020, some officers had instructed him to give false evidence against other suspects believed to have tested firearms and explosives in preparation for the planting of two bombs in Wan Chai on December 8, 2019….Lee said he complied because he was scared of being waterboarded or violently interrogated after he was allegedly abused following his arrest.

The police sergeant threatened to harm him and his mother, Lee alleged.

“[Fung] pulled out his service weapon and put it in my hand, and said he could use it to kill me as he could accuse me of attempting to grab his gun,” he added.

The defendant claimed that another officer had grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, before using a wet towel and shower head to waterboard him.

“The feeling was like drowning, I could not breathe and I felt like I’d almost die from asphyxiation,” Lee said.

NATO gets the wolf-warrior treatment, as the organization criticizes Beijing’s support for Russia over Ukraine. The lady doth protest too much – or at least uses the word ‘smear’ to excess.

China Media Project explains the dynamics of ‘commercial’ deals between Xinhua and media companies like AP and Reuters…

The deal between Xinhua and AP, which involved cooperation on the distribution of photos, videos and press releases, was finalized with a handshake and the exchange of signed copies. It was covered enthusiastically by Xinhua. For AP, meanwhile, the story was apparently not news — no reporting was available. The same pattern held for Reuters and PA Media Group: enthusiastic coverage from Xinhua, silence from its partners. 

These deals with Xinhua should invite tougher questions about how international media companies with a stated commitment to professional standards should deal with Chinese media giants whose sole commitment — crystal clear in the country’s domestic political discourse— is to strengthen the global impact of Party-state propaganda. 

Politico looks at Taiwan’s intensive ‘retail diplomacy’ in the US, winning friends among state governors and legislatures…

There are pro-Taiwan caucuses in more than a dozen state legislatures, in left-leaning territory like Connecticut and in MAGA bastions like West Virginia and Kentucky. Pro-Taiwan resolutions have passed in states as conservative as Utah and as progressive as Hawaii.

How many state legislatures have a Lithuania friendship caucus?

Michael Pettis on why some countries – notably China, but also Germany, Japan and others – consistently export more manufactures than they import…

Surplus economies tend to export a much wider set of manufacturing products, and they import less than they export largely because domestic demand is insufficient to convert export revenues into an equivalent amount of imports. A trade surplus, in other words, simply means that domestic demand is too weak to allow the economy to absorb the equivalent of what it produces. 

And it is almost always too weak because of the low share workers in these economies—compared to their counterparts in deficit countries—directly and indirectly retain of what they produce. This is why these economies must run surpluses to sustain employment and growth: their citizens cannot consume in line with what they produce.

More HK47 pre-sentencing mitigation, including endorsements from former government officials Anthony Cheung and Law Chi-kwong. Both had once been members of the Democratic Party. Hard to believe in these all-patriots/jailed opposition days that Beijing once allowed the local administration to dabble in co-opting pan-dems. 

SCMP headline for the story: ‘Ex-Democratic Party chair seeks leniency over plan to topple Hong Kong government’.

HKFP op-ed on the HK Education Bureau’s obsession with the volume when kids – including in special needs schools – sing the national anthem…

…complaints about the volume of the singing seem ill-advised. Different halls have different acoustics. Primary school kids are not opera singers and a common reaction to uncertainty about the tune or the words is to drop the volume. As we cannot switch to an easier song we will probably have to put up with this.

Anyway students will survive a few extra singing lessons. Whether the March of the Volunteers can stand this sort of treatment is another matter. Somewhere around the 30th repetition it will cease to embody the “courage and indomitable fighting spirit of the Chinese nation” and come to embody only the Education Bureau’s enthusiasm for repetitive and boring patriotic performances… by other people. Do you think school inspectors start the week by singing the national anthem together?

For graphics/demographics fans, a vivid chart showing Hong Kong’s population divided into one-year age groups, showing the fall in fertility rates and increase in emigration among younger people. In terms simply of visual effect, it looks like around half the population aged under 20 are missing. Median age in the city is 47.

Nice photo of the UK’s first China-born Member of Parliament at her new workplace.