Rubio, Washington’s top diplomat, also said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump had allowed a national emergency declaration on Hong Kong to expire last week after determining that the “circumstances had changed”, though he did not elaborate further. Asked by reporters at an Asean foreign ministers’ summit in Manila why Washington had eased sanctions…
Washington’s decision to end sanctions on nine Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials, including Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and two national security staffers, is an olive branch from the US to China to improve relations after their two presidents met in May, political observers have said. They and legal experts said the lifting…
Greater social and political stability in Hong Kong will allow the city to hold high-profile celebratory events for the anniversary of the Communist Party’s establishment, analysts and politicians have said, encouraging residents to learn more about the party. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced on Wednesday that the government would organise a series of celebratory…
A former Hong Kong lawmaker who previously headed the city’s largest, now-defunct opposition party has been released from prison after completing his sentence in a landmark subversion case. He boarded a seven-seater car which took him to Fung Tak Estate in Diamond Hill. Dressed in a white shirt, he alighted with two bags of belongings…
Hong Kong should revive plans for large-scale reclamation off Lantau Island to run in parallel with the Northern Metropolis project, property magnate Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has said, warning that a lack of urban land will hold back the city’s development as the population grows. The 90-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings also described it…
Kudos to the Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan for introducing a two-tier civil service accountability system. This will include giving an independent statutory body, the Public Service Commission, powers to investigate “widespread, repetitive and systemic” management problems, while department heads can investigate problems involving rank-and-file officers. To many, the revamp of…
The HK$2 (US$0.26) transport fare scheme for the elderly is one of Hong Kong’s most socially significant success stories. But some of the recent changes, and further ones contemplated, seem to be rowing in a different direction. We need to pause and take stock before we inadvertently undo some of our good work. In the…
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday for a three-day visit, meeting the city’s leader, politicians and businesspeople, and will also examine key sites in the Northern Metropolis megaproject to explore collaboration opportunities. It will be Wong’s first official visit to Hong Kong since he assumed office as Singapore’s fourth…
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered his latest budget on February 25. Over the past decade, under his stewardship, Hong Kong has weathered multiple economic shocks and recently returned to a respectable growth rate of 3.5 per cent. Yet the tasks ahead are formidable: addressing a structural fiscal deficit in the city’s capital account while…
Japan’s representative to Hong Kong has said his consulate is making “steady progress” in developing ties with the city, while noting the absence of top local officials at a celebration of the emperor’s birthday amid tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Jun Miura, the country’s consul general to the city, on Thursday expressed his thanks for…