HK - Economic Data & News 01 (May 08 - Sep 14)

[winston]

Why wait until 2017 ? And will there be excuses after excuses in 2017 ?

Hong Kong candidate pledges full suffrage in 2017

HONG KONG, December 19, 2011 (AFP) - China's reported choice for Hong Kong's next leader promised Monday to "set the stage" for universal suffrage, as he held a rally ahead of March polls expected to be heavily influenced by Beijing.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/67994

[winston]

Agree. It's time for this selfish city to do some reflection ....

Church leaders hit out at 'selfish' Hong Kong

The leaders of Hong Kong's Anglican and Catholic churches yesterday denounced the "selfishness" of a city beset by a widening gap between rich and poor.

Source: SCMP

[winston]

So what happened to the supposedly 50 years of "non-interference" ?


China’s criticism of U.S. policy turns personal By Andrew Higgins

HONG KONG — Now it’s getting personal. After months of sniping at American policy, China has turned its fire on Washington’s senior diplomat in this former British colony.

In an unusual public rebuke, the Hong Kong branch of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused U.S. consul general Stephen Young of breaching diplomatic norms and ignoring “solemn warnings” to keep quiet about democracy in what, since 1997, has been part of China.

The scolding by China’s top diplomat here follows a series of articles in Communist Party-controlled media denouncing Young — who served in Kyrgyzstan during a democratic uprising there in 2005 — as part of an American plot to spread disorder and keep China down.

“Wherever he goes, there is trouble and so-called ‘color revolution,’ ” said Wen Wei Po, a pillar of the Party’s still mostly secret political apparatus in Hong Kong.

The paper described Young — the son of a U.S. Army officer who fought in Korea and Vietnam — as coming from “an anti-China, anti-communist family.”

The consulate said Young has done nothing wrong. “We categorically reject any assertion that the behavior of U.S. diplomatic and consular staff in Hong Kong has been anything other than appropriate and in keeping with long-standing diplomatic and consular law and practice,” a spokesman said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asi ... story.html

[winston]

Hong Kong's Richest Catch A Cold

The total wealth of Hong Kong’s 40 richest declined this year by 7% to $151 billion.

The group that suffered the most: real estate developers.

Li Ka-shing, who remains in his perch at the top of the list, declined 8% to $22 billion.

The Kwok family fell from second to third place as its wealth dropped by almost a quarter to $15 billion.

They were placed at the No. 2 spot by Lee Shau Kee, the chairman of Henderson Land, whose wealth we project at $17 billion.

Besides business in Hong Kong, all three have growing investments and policy exposure in the mainland.

The biggest gainer this year was Cheng Yu-tung, whose wealth climbed to $15 billion from $9 billion last year following the successful IPO last month by his Chow Tai Fook Jewelry chain.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflan ... ch-a-cold/

[winston]

Hong Kong battles 'pregnancy tourism' Al Jazeera

The benefits of a Hong Kong passport are highly prized by many mainland Chinese, and the high demand by pregnant women to cross the border has brought tough new regulations and restricted access to public hospitals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoXoLloqPe0

[winston]

Ad calling mainland Chinese "locusts" runs in Hong Kong

A group of Hong Kongers published a newspaper ad Wednesday calling mainland Chinese "locusts" and demanding the government take action to stop their "infiltration" into the southern city.

The full-page advertisement in widely-read Apple Daily is the latest in a slew of incidents, suggesting mounting anger in Hong Kong about the political and economic influence of mainland China in local affairs.

It features an enormous locust overlooking Hong Kong's skyline with the words "Hong Kongers have had enough!" and "This city is dying, you know?"

Online group Golden Forum funded the page-11 ad with donations from users of its Internet chat service.

The group "strongly demands... a stop to the unlimited infiltration of mainland Chinese couples into Hong Kong," it said in the ad, referring to the thousands of mainland women who come to Hong Kong to give birth every year.

Many Hong Kongers also dislike the shadowy role that Beijing plays in local politics, along with the flashy displays of wealth by mainland Chinese tourists who are coming to the city, in increasing numbers to splurge on luxury goods.

Last month Italian clothing chain Dolce & Gabbana apologised to the people of Hong Kong for allegedly discriminating against them in favour of wealthy mainland shoppers.

The "Anti-Locusts" campaign follows remarks by a Chinese professor calling locals of the former British colony "bastards", "dogs" and "cheats".

Kong Qingdong said Hong Kong people were "used to being the dogs of British colonialists -- they are dogs, not humans".

Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the One Party Two Systems arrangement, giving it limited autonomy and enjoys civil freedoms not seen on the mainland.

The professor was furious at a video that went viral online showing Hong Kongers, scolding a mainland girl, for flouting rules against eating, on the city's subway trains.

A recent survey found that more than 79 percent of Hong Kong people identified themselves as Hong Kongers instead of Chinese. More identified themselves as "Asians" than as citizens of the People's Republic of China.

A senior central government official criticised the University of Hong Kong's poll as "illogical", saying respondents should have been asked if they saw themselves as "British citizens" or "Chinese citizens".

Source: AFP Asian Edition

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

Agree. How can you drive a left-hand drive car in a place that's right-hand drive ? In addition, those dirvers from China are also not familiar with the roads in HK...

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Hundreds march in Hong Kong against mainland cars

HONG KONG: Several hundred people marched in Hong Kong Sunday, opposing a controversial government scheme that allows mainland Chinese cars into the territory, further escalating tensions between the two sides.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 45/1/.html

[kennynah]

actually, in many european countries, there are no restrictions on left, right hand drive vehicles on their roads. uk is an example.

HK, i feel, should learn to accept that it had always been a part of China. it's been almost 15 years and they are still hung up about being subservient to the british. they ought to be ashamed of themselves for 不认祖

[winston]

Agree that's a certain tone of Nationalism and Racism.

However, I'm looking at things from a safety standard.

I learnt how to drive on the left side. Then I had to drive on the right side. Then the left side again. Then the right side again and then the leff side again then the right side ....

I can tell you that it's not easy adjusting from left to right hand drive, especially when you are not familiar with the roads of the place.

Well, they just have to wait for some lives to be killed before they will stop it. And it's too bad that some lives have to be wasted before common sense prevail.

[winston]

Mired in scandal, tycoon presses bid to run Hong Kong by Sisi Tang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tycoon Henry Tang threw his hat into the ring to become Hong Kong's next leader on Monday, defying growing calls to quit amid a scandal, over an illegally built luxury den under a swimming pool.

Tang, formerly Hong Kong's number two official who only last week had appeared the China-backed frontrunner in next month's election, has seen his popularity tumble over allegations of an extra-marital affair, verbal gaffes and now the row over the basement in the grounds of a family villa.

What riled the public more than the building of the basement, which newspapers reported as having a wine cellar, home theatre, gymnasium and a jacuzzi, was that Tang blamed the construction on his wife.

Despite calls for him to quit, Tang formally submitted his nomination to replace outgoing Chief Executive Donald Tsang on Monday after securing just 379 nominations from a 1,200-strong election committee.

Michael DeGolyer, political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University, said 379 was an embarrassingly small number, given that Tang was "the more or less undoubted frontrunner" until last Thursday.

"As data starts coming out about how Henry Tang is falling off the charts in terms of public support, and if (Beijing) were to even try to impose Henry Tang ... (when) you have a majority of the public in favor of someone like C.Y. Leung, it would make Hong Kong ungovernable," he said.

"It is simply not going to work. And I think that that's going to be blisteringly apparent rather soon."

C.Y. Leung, or Leung Chun-ying, a government adviser and surveyor, is known to have some support in Beijing and is Tang's nearest contender.

Hong Kong's former security chief-turned-politician, Regina Ip, also said she would run in the race to replace Tsang, knighted by the Queen of England and a trusted aide to Hong Kong's last British governor, Chris Patten.

With China facing a critical leadership transition later in the year, the Tang scandal will be unwelcome in the small but influential city whose moves towards full democracy have antagonized China's Communist leaders since 1997, when it returned from British to Chinese rule.

Hong Kong's seven million people have no direct vote for their next leader despite promises by Beijing eventually to grant the city full democracy.

A poll by the University of Hong Kong showed on Sunday that 51.3 percent of 516 people surveyed wanted Tang out of the race while 79.5 percent thought his integrity was questionable.


Source:Reuters US Online Report World News