Coach firms slam move for extra cross-border buses - RTHK

rthk.hk - Express NewsToday, 13:30

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  Local companies say allowing more buses when the new Macau-Zhuhau bridge opens will harm their business. File photo: RTHK

Local coach firms have attacked the government's proposal to allow an extra 200 cross-border coaches a day to come in and out of the territory when the bridge to Macau and Zhuhai opens.

They claim this move would be unfair and lead to fierce competition in an already overcrowded industry, especially as arrivals from across the border are dwindling. 

The bus owners were speaking at a Legco public hearing on the traffic arrangement for the bridge, which is expected to open at the end of 2018.

The representatives also objected to the government's plan for current airport buses to make an extra stop at the new border to pick up tourists. 

They said government’s estimation that only five minutes is needed for making such a detour is unrealistic, and claim the move will lead to overcrowding.

http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1252007-20160401.htm

Two-thirds of Hong Kong CFOs blame economic and political uncertainty for lower spending, survey shows

96pc of those polled expect modest change or even no growth in economy this year

JEFFIE.LAM@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 3:07pm

Sixty-six per cent of the Hong Kong chief financial officers surveyed said their spending decisions were affected by the economic and political uncertainty ahead. Photo: AP

Two-thirds of the financial decision-makers polled in Hong Kong said that economic and political uncertainty in the city has caused reduction in spending, with most of them expecting only modest growth, if any, in the economy this year.

The annual survey, conducted by the American Express in November last year, involved 651 senior financial executives across a wide range of industries, with five per cent of respondents coming from Hong Kong.

Sixty-six per cent of the Hong Kong chief financial officers surveyed said their spending decisions were affected by the economic and political uncertainty ahead, and 96 per cent of them expect only a modest change or even no growth in the economy this year, compared to 50 per cent who felt the same way last year.

Confidence in economic growth continued to go downhill, dropping 20 percentage points from last year to 30 per cent. It was 94 per cent in 2013.

With gloomy prospects and uncertainty ahead, half of the executives polled said they would reduce overall spending, 47 per cent said they would increase risk management and security investment, and 37 per cent said they would focus on domestic markets.

Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the Hong Kong leaders were looking to hire more people, yet 66 per cent of them admitted they faced difficulties in hiring skilled specialists. More than half of them had considered hiring more temporary or contract workers to resolve the talent mismatch.

Stephen Pendergast, American Express vice-president and general manager of global corporate payments for Hong Kong and Taiwan, said the business sector had felt stronger headwinds from the global economic climate in the first quarter of 2016.

“It is important for companies to put in place clear spending and investment plans to make sure every dollar is worth spending,” he said.

“One solution is to streamline existing processes while enhancing payment efficiency in order to avoid bad debts and increase liquidity.”

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1932851/two-thirds-hong-kong-cfos-blame-economic-and-political

Beijing speaks loud against HK independence, but silent on Article 23 -Chris Yeung

Voice of Hong KongToday, 08:02

By Chris Yeung –

Three points from the Chinese central government’s first official response to the establishment of the Hong Kong National Party, the city’s first political party that advocates independence. In an interview with the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday, a spokesman of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office made it clear, again, Beijing’s opposition against the advocacy. It was followed by another salvo by  Liaison Office Director Zhang Xiaoming in an interview with the Phoenix TV on Thursday.

1. Independence? Don’t even talk about it

Although Beijing leaders have moderated their rhetoric on Hong Kong during the “two sessions”, NPC and CPPCC plenums, in Beijing last month, they are quick to eliminate any illusion that there is room for leniency when it comes to the issue of independence in any form.

Without naming the party, the HKMAO spokesman said the the establishment of a pro-independence party by an extremely small group of people in Hong Kong has harmed the country’s sovereignty and security.

“(It) has endangered the prosperity and stability and harmed the interests of Hong Kong… It is also a serious violation of the Basic Law and the relevant existing laws,”

He said they believe the Hong Kong government would handle the matter in accordance with the law. Saying they are aware that the government has already rejected the party’s registration, he said the government action is “appropriate.”

Some lawyers and pan-democrats have argued simply expressing views, but not taking action, about independence may not constitute a criminal offence. Beijing seems to disagree. To Beijing, advocacy for independence does not fall within the remit of freedom of expression. It constitutes an act of sedition, which is not allowed under Article 23 in the Basic Law.

2. HK government feels the heat

By saying they believe the Hong Kong government would handle the matter in accordance with the law, Beijing has sent a not-so-subtle message to the administration for it not to exercise discretion and grant leniency in dealing with any pro-independence groups. For instance, the government will be under pressure to act in accordance with the law if the party, without formal registration under companies or societies ordinances, organises any activities. Taking the cue from the central government, the Justice Department issued a statement saying they would watch closely and take appropriate action when necessary. While stating clear its position on advocacy for independence, the central government has indicated the Hong Kong government holds responsibility for handling the matter.

3. Fresh talk on Article 23, but just that

Almost without exception, the issue of resumption of legislation on Basic Law Article 23 is raised every time the advocacy of Hong Kong independence hit headlines. The latest venture by the Hong Kong National Party in crossing the red line by hoisting the flag of independence has raised speculation that Beijing may have no choice but to ask the Hong Kong government to put the issue back on the agenda.

If there are no indications of that so far, it is because it is a bad time for Beijing to do so. With the next Legislative Council election just about five months to go, dusting off the shelved national security bill will be a godsend for the pan-democrats – and a nightmare for the pro-establishment camp. Technically and practically, there is also no room for a bill in the agenda of the Legislative Council. The earliest time for a resumption of Article 23 legislation will be next year after the next chief executive is sworn in.

Chris Yeung is founder and editor of the Voice of Hong Kong website. He is a veteran journalist formerly worked with the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Economic Journal. He writes on Greater China issues.

Photo: Picture taken from Hong Kong National Party Facebook

 

Let your voices heard: Is advocacy for Hong Kong independence an act of freedom of expression that should be allowed? Send your views to vohk2015@gmail.com.

http://www.vohk.hk/2016/04/01/beijing-speaks-loud-against-hk-independence-but-silent-on-article-23/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Degree of anger: Hong Kong students and social workers to protest against decision to scrap part-time CityU programme

Fears that move will limit number of highly devoted social workers available to sector

SHIRLEY.ZHAO@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 7:00am

The main entrance to City University in Kowloon Tong. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A plan to scrap a popular part-time associate degree programme in social work from September has angered many students and social workers, who will today stage a protest against the decision.

Some claim it is one of the side-effects of City University handing the operation and governance of its Community College over to the University of Wollongong in Australia. They say this move has practically let the college loose to commercialise programmes and make more money.

Social welfare sector legislator Peter Cheung Kwok-che also worried that scrapping the programme would deprive the sector of a group of highly devoted future social workers.

Cheung said part-time associate degree programmes would usually attract those who, for various reasons, started work early without furthering their education but still held great passion in the programmes they chose.

He said once these students graduated and became social workers, they would probably be more devoted and to stick to the profession for life than full-time degree graduates. He added that the industry had seen a serious shortage of devoted social workers.

“We are very against and regretful of this decision,” said Cheung.

City University staff and council member Fung Wai-wah said the college decided to stop the self-financing part-time programme after the Social Workers Registration Board last year advised it to improve the programme’s teacher-student ratio, which had been below the board’s requested level.

Fung said the college, with a fiscal reserve of over HK$900 million, decided to give up on the programme, believing it would lose money by hiring more teachers.

“This shows the college is treating its associate degree programmes as a business,” said Fung. “When there’s a profit, it will open as many programmes as possible. When it’s no longer profitable, it will immediately stop running it.”

City University’s governing council approved in November 2014 the transfer of the college. The college has made it clear that, despite its partnership with Wollongong, the college will exclusively own its current reserve and any future surplus.

The college will have a five-year transitional period, during which it will continue to use its current name, Community College of City University, operate in its current two campuses in Kowloon Tong and Kowloon Bay, and award City University-accredited diplomas.

Fung said although Hong Kong College of Technology and Caritas Institute of Higher Education both offer similar part-time social work programmes, the one offered by the college was still more popular because of CityU’s brand name.

He said the part-time programme admitted around 70 students a year. The total tuition fee for the programme is HK$112,500. The programme’s website has stated that only the full-time mode will be admitting new students from the 2016-17 academic year.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1932744/degree-anger-hong-kong-students-and-social

How world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid influenced Hong Kong’s famous skyline

Hong Kong Institute of Architects president Vincent Ng, who worked with the late Pritzker Prize winner, tells the Post how she was an inspiration to those in the city

OLGA.WONG@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 1:24pm

Zaha Hadid died of a sudden heart attack in Miami on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

“It all started here.”

This was how Zaha Hadid began the introduction to her design for the Innovation Tower on the city’s Polytechnic University campus back in 2014.

The groundbreaking Iraqi-British architect, who died of a sudden heart attack in Miami on Thursday, associated her success with Hong Kong.

“Few believed what she drew on paper could be transformed into reality,” said Hong Kong Institute of Architects president Vincent Ng Wing-shun, Hadid’s local partner in the innovation tower project.

This is probably why her creative design for a leisure club on The Peak in Hong Kong never came to fruition, despite the fact that it had won the international design competition back in 1983.

Polytechnic University's Innovation Tower. Photo: SCMP Pictures

“In fact, her first design was only realised in Vitra, Germany in 1993, 10 years after she had become famous. It was a fire station in an angular shape,” Ng said.

Ng, who entered two other international competitions with Hadid, said it was the Peak design competition that made Hadid well-known worldwide.

“A judge for the competition recalled years later that he didn’t know whether Hadid was a man or a woman. But he was impressed by her work,” Ng said.

“That’s why, according to Hadid’s staff, she always wanted to return to Hong Kong to build a signature of her own,” he added.

Her design for the leisure club, which has been called “deconstructivist”, proposed excavating the hills to form a site and using the excavated rock to build artificial cliffs. It was said to be “seemingly defiant of gravity”.

In 2004, Hadid became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the highest honour for architects.

And while some have criticised her conscious creation of visually intrusive structures across the globe, Ng said her innovations and non-compromising attitude were an inspiration for Hong Kong architects, adding that government bureaucracy was a reason for the city being filled with “boring architecture”.

A futuristic pavilion created by Zaha Hadid Chanel's 'Mobile Art' exhibition in Hong Kong in 2008. Photo: EPA“In many cases, land owners and architects will compromise in face of the rigid building rules. That’s why they often come up with an alternative design as a back up,” he said.

“But for Zaha Hadid, she doesn’t allow Plan B.”

Ng said the Innovation Tower, which exceeded the building height limit set by the Planning Department, would not have been completed without her persistence. The project team had to fight very hard to persuade building officials to approve its tilted structure and her signature flowing curves, in form of sun shading fins, because such designs could result in unpermitted extra floor areas.

A more recent project by Hadid, the design for the main facility of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, was scrapped last summer as a result of spiralling construction costs. In this regard, Ng, who was tasked to revitalise the Central Market, had similar encounter. His plan was shelved last year after its cost of preservation tripled from HK$500 million to HK$1.5 billion.

https://twitter.com/ZHA_News/status/715575844903723008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Ng said Hadid death was “too sudden”, and a great loss to the world.

“Her inventions and non-compromising attitude have created more room for architects in Hong Kong to pursue their dreams,” he said.

“She was a contemporary master, looking for breakthrough and advancement in every way,” Ng added.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1932773/how-world-renowned-architect-zaha-hadid-influenced-hong-kongs-famous

Half of Hong Kong children’s clinics fill quotas for non-locals in April after mainland vaccine scandal

The city’s paediatric centres will treat at most 120 non-local children a month

ELIZABETH.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 1:01pm

Hong Kong has taken the measures because of the mainland vaccine scandal. Photo: Sam Tsang

Almost half of Hong Kong’s public children’s clinics have already filled their April service quotas for non-locals, as health bosses roll out a measure to protect local children from mainland vaccine fears.

From Friday the city’s 31 maternal and child health centres will treat at most 120 non-local children a month between them, including mainlanders. Each centre will only handle two to seven new cases each month, depending on service capacity.

The measure came after the scandal of illegal and improperly handled vaccines broke out on the mainland last month. Public clinics reported a rapid jump in phone enquiries on vaccination from about 80 to 120 in less than a week.

The Department of Health announced on Thursday that the quota for April had already been filled at 15 clinics, as parents were allowed to make appointments before the implementation of the quota system.

Non-local quotas in all five clinics in New Territories East were full, while those in New Territories West had the most left. As of noon on Thursday, there were still 35 places left for the month.

A spokesman for the department said: “Services for eligible persons including Hong Kong residents are not affected. They may make appointments with their preferred centre either in person or by calling the centre concerned.”

A hotline for non-local bookings opened on Friday, running from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm on weekdays.

“The hotline is aimed at lightening the burden of the centres’ services through better use of manpower resources,” the spokesman added.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1932829/half-hong-kong-childrens-clinics-fill-quotas-non

Hong Kong housewife charged with taking part in Mong Kok riot complains of rough police treatment during arrest

Yang Jianfang, 40, claims officers who handcuffed her injured her wrists

JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 1:10pm

Yang Jianfang faced a rioting charge at Kowloon City Court on Friday. Photo: Google

A housewife complained of rough police treatment during her arrest as she became the latest defendant brought to Kowloon City Court to face a rioting charge.

Yang Jianfang, 40, was not required to enter a plea on one count of riot during her first court appearance on Friday.

The Sham Shui Po resident was arrested in Cheung Sha Wan last month for allegedly taking part in a riot with others at 1.45am on February 9, at the Portland Street junction of Shantung Street in Mong Kok.

Prosecutor Andy Lo Tin-wai requested an adjournment to June 1, pending further police investigation and the Department of Justice’s legal advice.

He did not oppose bail, but asked the court to impose appropriate bail conditions, which included restricting Yang from entering parts of Mong Kok except on transportation. Yang’s defence counsel agreed.

The defence also told the court that Yang was given rough treatment during her arrest as the police officers who handcuffed her injured her wrists.

Magistrate So Wai-tak replied: “I will record that in the file.”

He granted Yang cash bail of HK$2,000, with the condition that she reside at the reported address and inform the Cheung Sha Wan police station 24 hours ahead of any move. She was also required to abide by the injunction order as requested by the prosecution.

Yang left the courtroom under the escort of a dozen friends and supporters as well as a security guard, who accompanied her to file a report to the Complaints Against Police Office within the court building.

Police have so far arrested 82 people in connection with the Mong Kok riot, which left 130 injured. Some of the suspects have already been charged, with at least 40 of them expected to make their second court appearance next week.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1932831/hong-kong-housewife-charged-taking-part-mong-kok-riot

Plainclothes Police Destroy Gao Yu's Garden and Beat Up Her Son

Radio Free AsiaToday, 04:24

Plainclothes police raided the Beijing home of veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu on Thursday, sending the 72-year-old heart patient to the hospital while roughing up and detaining her son and destroying her garden in what supporters said was a bid to intimidate her.

Gao was on the phone with Germany-based writer Su Yutong when suddenly Gao said more than 20 plainclothes police and workmen stormed into the garden of her home in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, Su told RFA’s Mandarin Service.

“More than 20 people came and there was a confrontation when Gao Yu tried to stop them, triggering her heart condition, for which she later went to the hospital to get treatment. Her son, Zhao Meng, was beaten and forcibly taken to the Heping Street police station and not released until the forced demolition was finished,” said Su.

“I want an explanation from the government for this kind of brutal law enforcement. What is they based on? How can you beat people, crush someone's hand and kidnap their kid?” an angry Gao later told RFA’s Cantonese Service.

“They pushed around a sick old lady, and if not for two workers holding me from behind and me holding the door tightly, I would have been thrown to the ground,” she added, referring to herself.

Zhao Meng, Gao’s son, told RFA that as soon as the forced demolition was finished, “they abducted me. Six or seven plainclothes police pushed me into a vehicle.”

He said he went to the hospital to have his bloodied right hand treated and to document his injuries to show police.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement sent the "chengguan," plainclothes law enforcers widely despised in China for their use of violence,  to tear down what they said were an illegal garden and wall.

Gao had asked the men to show her the legal paper work for the demolition and was treated rudely by them, which caused her heart troubles, said Su.

“When Gao Yu, who has a heart condition, confronted the rude and arrogant attitude of the police while she was herself in an emotionally charged state, she nearly fainted,” Su told RFA.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the raid on Gao’s home, in a statement calling it the “latest example of the now frequent harassment of the families of journalists and bloggers critical of the Communist Party.”

“This act of aggression by the police, in plain clothes as usual, speaks volumes about the methods used by the Communist Party to intimidate Gao Yu, those close to her and Chinese civil society in general,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

Gao's seven-year jail term for "leaking state secrets overseas" was cut on appeal to five years by the Beijing High People's Court last November after she reportedly suffered multiple heart attacks in detention.

'Leaking state secrets'

She also suffers from high blood pressure and has signs of a growth on a lymph node that could be malignant, her lawyers said in her applications for medical parole before her release.

Gao has been permitted to serve a five-year jail term "outside jail," holds a valid German visa but has been denied permission by the Chinese authorities to seek medical treatment overseas.

Gao was initially sentenced to a seven-year jail term by the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court in April 2015 for "leaking state secrets overseas,” but denied breaking Chinese law, saying that a televised "confession" on which the prosecution based its case was obtained under duress.

Gao had been held in the jail since her initial detention in April 2014, as she planned to mark the 26th anniversary of 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square that culminated in a military crackdown by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on the night of June 3-4, 1989.

During her November 2014 trial, Gao Yu was accused of leaking party policy Document No. 9 to a Hong Kong-based media outlet.

Document No. 9 lists "seven taboos" to be avoided in public debate, online and in China's schools and universities that include democracy, freedom of the press, judicial independence and criticism of the party's historical record.

Her defense team argued that the document was already widely available online.

Gao’s latest clash with abusive authorities comes amid a wave of repression of human rights lawyers, bloggers and activists that has seen the China-based families of  prominent exiled writers harassed by local police.

RSF said media freedom “has declined sharply in the past year in China,” which in 2015 ranked a lowly 176th out 180 countries in the media watchdog’s annual press freedom index.

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Gao Shan for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Wong Lok-to and Paul Eckert. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-gaoyu-03312016155444.html

CHINA TRANSLATED: Mafia, Vaccinations, and a Most Unfair Fine

by James Yu, Epoch Times

China – The Epoch TimesToday, 03:38

China was recently roiled by another scandal involved adulterated and toxic vaccinations, an issue that has been allowed to drag on for over a decade because of inaction (or, rather, the sort of action—attacking those who sought to gain compensation for harm) by the authorities. This gave Internet users more cause than usual to vent about the political system of their homeland. The rest of the week saw the usual preoccupations: a bloated real estate market, bizarre fines levied against the small guy for no good reason, and Party officials whose sanctimoniousness sometimes takes the breath away.

Joke of the Week

Background: The government of Shenyang, a northeastern city of China, recently announced a policy to destock real estate inventory, granting university students or recent graduates the ability to take out home mortgages with zero down. The policy was heavily criticized and soon retracted—but not before jokes were made.

(During a blind date)

Girl: “Do you have a car?”

Boy: “No.”

Girl: “Do you have an apartment?”

Boy: “No.”

Girl: “Then what’s there to say between us?”

Boy: “But I’m a university student in Shenyang.”

Girl: “Oh sweetheart, why didn’t tell me that in the first place?”

—Sina blog

During the “Two Meetings,” a journalist asked the spokesman: “The average level of pesticide residue in market food significantly exceeded the maximum allowed by the Ministry of Health. Even tea is nearly undrinkable now. Is there any safe food in China?” The spokesman angrily replied: “Use your brain before asking! Do they think they’re using real pesticides?!”

—Douban

Best of the Internet

@andyyeung12: “Chinese have to visit Hong Kong to safely vaccinate their babies; they  have to visit the United States for better medical service when pregnant; they have to travel to Australia for non-toxic milk powder; they have to fly to Japan for reliable pressure-cookers; and they have to go to Canada for fresh air… Our motherland has become so ‘strong’ that it’s scary.”

—ChinaDigitalTimes

@Xiucai Jianghu: “A dictatorship is worse than the mafia. While the mafia is definitely bad, at least it’s not hypocritical. They admit that they’re a mafia, and never force others to say they’re good people. In contrast, dictatorships are both autocratic and hypocritical. They force others to say the society under its rule is democratic and free. You’ll be punished if you dare say they’re dictators.”

—Qiwenlu

Concern over the safety of domestic vaccines is prompting mainland mothers to look to Hong Kong for vaccinations for their children. Photo: CNSA

Question: If North Korea and China attack each other with nuclear weapons, who will benefit most?

Answer: Facebook, because those are the only two countries where Facebook is blocked.

—Botanwang

Lin Ji: “For a long time, China’s most fundamental problem has been something much worse than toxic milk powder or toxic vaccines—a toxic regime.”

—RFA

@Dreamer naohu2: “Even Song Hongbing [the author of Currency Wars, a bestseller in China that expounds U.S.-led conspiracy theories] is a U.S. citizen. The undeniable fact is that for many people throwing mud at the U.S. is their job, while living in the United States is their life.”

—Aboluo

Truly a ‘Most’ Unfair Fine

On March 22, a snack bar in Hangzhou wasreportedly fined 200,000 yuan ($30,900) for saying “The Best of Hangzhou,” and “The Best of China,” on its in-shop signboards. The city’s Market Supervision Administration said using the term “most” is a violation of Advertisement Law.

The owner complained that the fine was too heavy for him: “200,000 yuan is what the bar earns in a whole year. I have taken away the terms as required. It is not right to kill my business over just this.” The authorities denied the complaint, claiming that the regulation was issued last September and the owner was responsible for learning about new laws.

Many who read the news expressed sympathy toward the shop owner. One remark said: “I just cannot understand how the government fails to supervise the vaccine market properly while it has time to punish things like this.” Another remark riffed on the Communist Party’s notorious slogan “The sun is the reddest, Chairman Mao is dearest,” saying “I guess the Party should be fined billions of yuan for the most unreal advertisement in history?”

The Chinese character for “most” is replaced with the character for “truly” on the signboard.

Corruption is the Fault of Everyone

The People’s Daily recently published an article titled “We Are All Part of the Social ‘Atmosphere.'”  The article was authored by Xi Hua, a high-ranking official in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party’s anti-graft agency. The word “atmosphere” in the title refers to bad social customs, particularly “bribing and receiving bribes,” which has become ubiquitous in China.

The article asks readers to examine themselves for the cause of corruption in China, and goes on to suggest that corruption is a shared responsibility.

Chinese netizens were not happy with the implications of this line of argument. A remark said: “So you’re trying to say that not only is the Communist Party corrupt, but that everyone is corrupt? Then why not say it in a straightforward way? Why not stop saying the Party is always great, glorious and correct?”

Other remarks said: “Dare you tell the truth? So you think ordinary Chinese people want to give bribes? If you served our people fairly and equally, regardless of how much money we gave you in red envelopes, who would pay bribes?”

Some remarks are ironic: “Oh we have such a great government and great Party; unfortunately they learn bad things from our people.” Another remark said: “The opinion of this article is not completely wrong, but it shouldn’t have been published in this newspaper.”

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2009949-china-translated-mafia-vaccinations-and-a-most-unfair-fine/

Top Beijing official warns new pro-independence party

EJ InsightToday, 12:41

Zhang Xiaoming says the Hong Kong National Party is a challenge to Chinese sovereignty and threatens national security, as well as Hong Kong's fundamental interests. Photo: news.now.hk

China is warning against any political party that advocates Hong Kong independence, saying it is a direct challenge to its sovereignty and contravenes “one country two systems”.

Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said such a political group is “unacceptable”, the Hong Kong economic Journal reports.

Zhang echoed Wang Ziming, deputy director of the Hong Kong And Macau Affairs Office, who earlier said those who promote Hong Kong independence violate the law.

The remarks by two of the most senior Chinese officials responsible for Hong Kong followed Sunday’s launch of the Hong Kong National Party which calls for an independent state.

Zhang warned that any such state is a challenge to Chinese sovereignty and threatens national security, as well as Hong Kong’s own prosperity and “fundamental interests”.   

He compared the nascent party to a “snake being cradled in the bosom”.

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader, called on Hongkongers to reject the party.

In separate editorials, Pro-Beijing newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao urged the Hong Kong government to forbid any public activity related to the new party.

The government has disapproved the party’s registration.

Johannes Chan, former law dean of the University of Hong Kong, said discussing Hong Kong independence is not illegal but taking steps in that direction breaks the law.

HKU principal law lecturer Eric Cheung warned that pro-independence advocates are giving Beijing an excuse to push for a Hong Kong national security law.

The proposed anti-subversion and anti-secession legislation has been mothballed since 2003 after widespread protests.  

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

TL/AC/RA

http://www.ejinsight.com/20160401-top-beijing-official-warns-new-pro-independence-party/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20160401-top-beijing-official-warns-new-pro-independence-party

Helping out the HK Tourism Board

Big Lychee, Various SectorsToday, 12:00

This has been a week of unrelenting trauma, and there are six more days to go. I am unwittingly helping the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s latest campaign to cram millions of additional visitors to our shores, regardless of the city’s capacity to accommodate more bodies in its midst. In particular, they aretargeting families.

(In addition, they are trying to lure professionals aged 25-45 – those 46 and above apparently being undesirable, which sounds about right. And Mainlanders keen on ‘quality and honest tours’ (as opposed those who prefer being ripped off and assaulted). And travellers who find the idea of our ‘Wine and Dine Festival’ appealing, if any. Ditto something called a ‘Formula E Championship’. These special ‘events’ are secretly designed to repel potential visitors, surely?)

It’s all part of the Great Hong Kong Tourism Hub-Zone Strategy of the 2010s. Take all the buildings, neighbourhoods, culture and activities that give the city its characteristics and ambience that are unique in the world – and eradicate them. In their place, put the same plastic, designer-label, Disney-fied, fake, tacky, sterile crap you get everywhere else in cities-that-look-like-airport-departure-halls. Then scrabble around trying to find people brainless enough to want to come here.

So, as I say, I am contributing to this noble effort. I have guests: a family. My brother’s.

As (allegedly) a world ‘leader’ in his creative field, he has been on a lecture tour Down Under, and is holding a workshop here on his way back home. He has his wife and two tweeny youngsters with him, because if he left them behind they would be wasting time on stuff like bringing in a second income and attending school.

A typical day… We start with the Botanical Gardens (monkeys – can’t go wrong). A swing past the Peak Tram to confirm the Tourism Board’s worst fears about plummeting numbers of Mainland visitors; yes, it is nearly all Westerners lining up. The HK Park aviary is of course brilliant. Lunch at Pacific Place proves impossible, as the sort of kid-friendly food-hall places have vanished because the landlord has focused on luxury blah-blah retailers whose Mainland money-laundering clientele has sadly dried up. So off to CanTeen in Queensway. I had eggplant, pork and rice. HK$38. Simple. Yummy. But one of the things I have noticed with family/kids is that ‘simple’ is not good enough if ‘horrendous problem’ is at all possible.

Snag: there’s ‘not much’ on the menu. That’s because my brother’s family voluntarily impose upon themselves a rule that they must not eat meat. Seafood is OK (in reluctant deference to nutritional science), so they go with Portuguese baked fish – the gooey coconut/egg thing. The kids pick at the rice but can’t handle the vivid yellow sauce and accompaniments. (Raised to fear meat, they also seem to distrust vegetables. So far, I have seen them eat only refined starches like breakfast cereals, bread, toast and crackers, with a bit of cheese thrown in.)

The big excitement is to ride on a tram – part of authentic Hong Kong that the bureaucrats and tourism/property sector have not wiped out. But as always, ‘simple’ is not an option. Despite a visit to the facilities at Queensway, a restroom emergency is declared. So we bail out at Victoria Park, where the squat toilets cause some initial amusement. But then things take a sinister and nightmarish turn. The little girl, who has not been herself, has… worms.

I am advised that I am not helping by displaying my extreme horror so visibly. The well-travelled kids have had this before; we just need the right remedy. The first place we find in Tin Hau does not look promising, offering mainly milk powder and shampoo. But behind the counter, they have everything, including expert advice on intestinal parasites. (You can look up ‘pinworm’ if you like. I wouldn’t.) Thank you, Mr Cool Dude-with-beard at the Yan Tak Pharmacy, Electric Road.

We stroll on, enjoying the fruit stalls, the toy shops, the niche pudding outlets and all the other fun stuff Hong Kong has outside its malls. To help get my mind off distasteful childhood ailments, I drag everyone into the wet market to observe eels being chopped up into blood-gushing, still-wriggling segments (alongside the chicken-decapitations, pig innards, and all the rest). The kids put on a brave face, while their mother looks on slightly enviously (she is both a closet-carnivore and mildly sadistic). My brother judges the place ‘a little bit abattoir-ish’, as if it is supposed to be something else.

Eventually, we are back home. As part of his workshop materials, he has painstakingly accumulated a couple of dozen empty drinks cans. In our absence, my dedicated helper has – of course – disposed of them (in fact, passed them on as usual to the neighbourhood elderly indigent recycler). So we have 48 hours to drink many, many beers, again. The kids get their joyless, nutrition-free dinner: frozen pizza with virtually no topping save for cheese, and frozen oven-ready fries. What were the worms living on?

I declare the three-day weekend open, with dread.

*Lest anyone makes a report to the child welfare agency, the kids do deign to consume some fresh fruit, which probably explains their lack of scurvy, etc.

http://biglychee.com/?p=15689

S&P cuts outlook on China, Hong Kong to negative from stable

EJ InsightToday, 08:27

Hong Kong's revised outlook to negative from stable reflects economic and financial risks in the central government, according to S&P. Photo: Reuters

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its outlook for the Chinese government’s credit rating, the second time in the past month that China’s creditworthiness has come in unfavorably.

S&P kept its double-A minus rating on China’s sovereign debt but lowered the outlook to negative from stable.

That is the same level the country’s debt is rated by Moody’s Investors Service, which this month cut its outlook on China’s debt to negative.

At the same time, S&P lowered its outlook on Hong Kong to negative from stable but affirmed its topnotch long-term credit rating.

It said the negative rating reflects the outlook on the central government in China. 

“The ratings on Hong Kong also reflect above-average economic growth prospects  for a high-income economy, healthy fiscal performance, sizable fiscal reserves, a strong external position, and the credibility of monetary policy, notwithstanding the inherent limitations of a pegged exchange rate regime in carrying out independent monetary policy,” S&P said.  

The moves come as China opens up its massive bond market wider to foreign investors.

S&P said the government’s attempts to overhaul the world’s second largest economy toward domestic-led economic growth is proceeding “more slowly than we had expected”.

“Economic and financial risks to the Chinese government’s creditworthiness are gradually increasing,”  S&P said, citing expectations for government and corporate debt metrics to worsen and its fears the country will rely too heavily on credit growth to jump-start a sluggish economy.

”These expected trends could weaken the Chinese economy’s resilience to shocks,” S&P said.

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

RA

http://www.ejinsight.com/20150401-sp-cuts-outlook-on-china-hong-kong-to-negative/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20150401-sp-cuts-outlook-on-china-hong-kong-to-negative

HK tribunal partially upholds action against Moody’s

EJ InsightToday, 09:00

The tribunal said Moody’s breached the securities regulator's code of conduct but didn't act dishonestly. Photo: Bloomberg

A Hong Kong tribunal said Moody’s Investors Service must pay HK$11 million (US$1.4 million) for errors made in a July 2011 report that highlighted “red flags” at certain Chinese companies.

The Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunalupheld parts of a 2014 disciplinary action taken by the Securities and Futures Commission against Moody’s, which it fined US$3 million.

The tribunal said the ratings agency breached the Hong Kong securities regulator’s code of conduct but didn’t act dishonestly, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The SFC previously said Moody’s committed “mathematical” and “input” errors in a 2011 report that outlined weak corporate governance and accounting practices at certain Chinese firms.

Shares and bond prices at those companies tumbled even as some disputed the allegations.

“Moody’s appreciates the reduction in the fine, however we didn’t engage in misleading conduct and we disagree that the SFC should be able to regulate the content of research publications,” a Moody’s spokesman said in an email.

Moody’s said it is considering its options.

The ratings agency didn’t contest the errors but said they had a limited impact on the overall accuracy of the report.

It said the report wasn’t an official credit-ratings action and therefore outside the SFC’s purview.

In its ruling on Thursday, the tribunal said the publication of the report was a “regulated activity” but didn’t find that Moody’s had acted dishonestly.

While reducing the fine to reduced its fine by US$1.6 million, the tribunal ordered Moody’s to pay 60 percent of the SFC’s legal expenses.

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

RA/CG

http://www.ejinsight.com/20160401-hk-tribunal-partially-upholds-action-against-moody-s/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20160401-hk-tribunal-partially-upholds-action-against-moody-s

Chinese returns part of Bangladesh funds stolen by hackers

EJ InsightToday, 09:02

Philippine officials and a Bangladeshi representative examine the money returned by a Manila-based Chinese businessman. The cash was part of US$81 million hackers stole from the Bangladesh central bank's account in the US Federal Reserve and laundere

A Chinese casino junket operator has returned US$4.63 million of the US$81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh central bank’s account in the US Federal Reserve and laundered in Manila’s casinos.

Kam Sin Wong, a longtime Manila-based businessman, surrendered the money to Philippine anti-money laundering officials and the Bangladeshi ambassador, AP reports, citing officials.

Ambassador John Gomes said Bangladeshi investigators will fly to Manila next week and coordinate with their Filipino counterparts to find out how the stolen money was funneled into the Philippines and who was responsible.

“The whole world is looking upon Bangladesh … what we are going to do to recover this money,” Gomes told a news conference.

The US$4.63 million will be kept in a Philippine central bank vault until arrangements are made for its return to Bangladesh, said Julia Bacay Abad of the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Wong told ABS-CBN TV that he is also willing to return 450 million pesos (US$10 million) that was given to him as a debt repayment by one of two Chinese high rollers who allegedly transferred the stolen Bangladesh money to the Philippines.

Asked if Wong would no longer face possible criminal charges, Abad said “the return of the money does not necessarily mean that criminal liability will be erased”.

Wong has denied involvement in the cyberheist but told a recent Senate inquiry he was able to keep some of the money from his casino junket transactions with the two Chinese men, whom he identified as Gao Shuhua from Beijing and Ding Zhize from Macau.

Wong told the Senate hearing that Gao told him that he and Ding had money from the closure of their Macau casino and a land sale in China that they wanted to invest in the Philippines.

Philippine authorities are trying to get details on the two Chinese men.

The US$81 million laundered in the Philippines is part of US$101 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and then moved online to the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

A Philippine Senate inquiry has shown that the US$81 million was diverted to bank accounts created with fictitious names at a branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., consolidated and then shifted to the casinos and junket operators through a local remittance company.

Philippine authorities have had a hard time looking into the heist because of the country’s strict bank secrecy laws.

An anti-money laundering law does not cover Manila’s casinos, which one Philippine senator described as a money trail “black hole.”

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

RA

http://www.ejinsight.com/20160401-chinese-returns-part-of-bangladesh-funds-stolen-by-hackers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20160401-chinese-returns-part-of-bangladesh-funds-stolen-by-hackers

Officials under fire for illegal tomb in famous hiking trail

EJ InsightToday, 11:01

This illegal tomb (inset) in Shek O Peak has drawn criticism from hikers who want it removed. They are accusing the government of foot-dragging. Photos: Wikipedia, Apple Daily

A grave in the middle of a popular Hong Kong walking trail has become a battleground for the government and hikers who want it removed.

They are criticizing officials for foot-dragging and collusion, Apple Daily Daily reports. 

The concrete structure, about three meters long and one meter high, is about 100 meters from Dragon’s Back, once named by Time magazine as the best urban hiking trail in Asia.

The tomb faces the ocean from a government afforestation site in Shek O.

A group of hikers complained to the government three years ago and sought the removal of the structure, saying it has no religious or historical significance, the report said.

A prayer for Hong Kong prosperity is engraved in a plaque, along with the name of a man, but there is no information about him.

The grave might have been built illegally by a feng shui believer who wanted to change his luck, the report said.

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said there was basis for the complaint after inspecting the structure in response to the hikers’ petition.

It said the matter has been handed to the Land Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD).

FEHD has issued four notices this month that any remains be removed from the tomb by Nov. 10.

However, the government did not say how it plans to deal with the structure. 

Tombs are prohibited in country parks under an ordinance on parks and special areas.

Offenders are liable to a HK$2,000 (US$258) fine and and three months’ imprisonment. Illegal burials are subject to a HK$5,000 fine and a six-month jail term.

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

TL/AC/RA

http://www.ejinsight.com/20160401-officials-under-fire-for-illegal-tomb-in-popular-hiking-trail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=20160401-officials-under-fire-for-illegal-tomb-in-popular-hiking-trail

Beijing claims Hong Kong National Party is a threat to national security, but legal experts say only actions, not words, can constitute a crime

TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 1:35am

Chan Ho-tin announces the launch of the Hong Kong National Party at a press conference in Tuen Mun on Tuesday. Photo: Nora Tam

Hong Kong National Party, the new kid on the radical block, is igniting debate on whether an extreme party that rejects the Basic Law and wants to turn Hong Kong into an independent republic can exist legally.

While it is not the first group to advocate independence, it is at the extreme end of the localism movement as it has not only refused to recognise the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, it has pledged to use “whatever means available” for Hong Kong to break away from the mainland.

Can such a party exist in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, and can a Hong Kong citizen advocate independence without facing legal repercussions are among the questions that have sparked divided views.

While some argued advocating independence without taking any action was part of freedom of speech, last night Beijing’s liaison office chief Zhang Xiaoming disagreed with such a stance. In an interview with Phoenix TV, he said the founding of the new party “went beyond the realm of the freedom of expression ... and must not be tolerated”.

His comments came after Beiing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office accused the party of being in serious violation of the country’s constitution and a threat to national security.

A Hong Kong government spokesman also waded into the debate, pledging “to take action”, but did not quite say what that would mean.

The justice department’s spokeswoman declined to explain, only saying it would “maintain close liaison with the relevant law enforcement agencies”.

Under the Crimes Ordinance, anyone who utters, does or prepares to do anything with a seditious intention shall be guilty of an offence and liable for a fine of HK$5,000 and two years in jail.

But Civic Party barrister-lawmaker Dennis Kwok said the sedition charge required proof of action, not just words, directed towards inciting persons to violence or disorder.

University of Hong Kong principal law lecturer Eric Cheung Tat-ming warned that the ordinance must not be interpreted without taking into account various other legislation, including the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, that protect freedoms. “Those provisions in the Crimes Ordinance were outdated ... and their legality and constitutionality were in question,” Cheung told thePost.

Former HKU law dean Johannes Chan Man-mun also said it was impossible to prosecute someone for advocating independence without action.

Professor Simon Young of the University of Hong Kong says the new party is on safe ground if it only seeks to discuss the possibility of independence. Photo: Edward Wong

Without further elaborating, HKU law professor Albert Chen Hung-yee said the provision about sedition “might not be applicable to the current situation”, but lawyer Maggie Chan Man-ki disagreed and said: “It is irresponsible to rule out the possibility of any legal liability ... because even the Bill of Rights says the exercise of [civic liberties] should not affect national security.”

Former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee warned that while words did not constitute a crime, the party could be prosecuted when it organised activities to achieve its goals.

While the Societies Ordinance is another law that could deal with acts that threaten national security, it is unlikely that the new party has applied to be registered as one, as most political groups are registered as companies.

The party’s spokesman had said they had been advised by a third party that they might not be able to register under the Companies Registry. The registry told the Post it would not comment on individual cases.

HKU law professor Simon Young told the Post that the party’s company registration depended on “whether ... seeking the independence of Hong Kong [peacefully] can be said to be not a lawful purpose”.

He also said that under the Societies Ordinance, “it is hard to see how prohibiting the group would be necessary for national security ... [if] the party only seeks to discuss the possibility of independence and to achieve” it by peaceful means.

Cheung feared Beijing would urge Hong Kong to renew efforts to push for Article 23 legislation. Under this article, the city shall enact its own laws to prohibit any act of “treason, secession, sedition, and subversion”. The bill was shelved in 2003 when 500,000 people took to the streets to oppose it for crushing civil liberties.

Jian Shigong, deputy director of Peking University’s Centre for Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the HKMAO’s statement on Wednesday did not mean Beijing was pushing for Article 23.

In a separate interview with Phoenix TV, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa dismissed the idea of Hong Kong breaking away from China as “childish”.

Additional reporting by Jeffie Lam

and Gary Cheung

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1932748/beijing-claims-hong-kong-national-party-threat-national

Hong Kong International Airport splashes out HK$5 billion on a new midfield... concourse

Part of cost to come from revenue from concourse now fully on stream

PHILA.SIU@SCMP.COM

UPDATED : Friday, 01 April, 2016, 12:54am

The 105,500 square metre plane-parking and passenger facility became fully operational yesterday, as airport chiefs insist it won’t negate the need for third runway. Photo: Edward Wong

An extra HK$5 billion will be spent on parking stands for planes at Hong Kong International Airport over the next four years – boosting the capacity of one of the world’s busiest flight hubs ahead of further expansion with the construction of a new third runway.

A portion of the extra outlay will be recouped by revenue from the 30,000 passengers a day who will pass through the concourse which sits between the airport’s two runways and houses more than 20 shops and restaurants.

Airport chiefs predict traffic will continue to rise at the airport requiring yet another concourse – which differs from a terminal in that it has no immigration clearance area – to be built to handle traffic from the soon to be built third runway.

The 105,500 square metre plane-parking and passenger facility – known as the midfield concourse – came fully on stream yesterday after taking its first passengers in December last year.

Airport Authority chief executive, Fred Lam Tin-fuk, said the additional stands would improve efficiency but did not negate the need for a third runway to cope with 21st century air travel. In 2015, the airport – which is built on reclaimed land and opened for business in 1998 – handled more than 68 million passengers, up from 63 million in 2014 and 60 million in 2013.

Lam said: “The extra stand will not increase the number of departures and arrivals the airport can handle because that depends on the runway system.

“The two runways will reach maximum capacity by the end of this year. That is something that will limit the development of the airport.”

At present, the concourse – which will cost a total of HK$15 billion – has 20 aircraft stands and handles 230 flights a day from 30 airlines. It is expected to handle 10 million passengers a year but Lam said it was equipped to handle double that.

It takes three and a half minutes to get from it to Terminal One on an automated people mover. HK$141.5 billion is expected to be spent on the third runway which is due for completion in 2023.

To fund the project, every traveller flying out of the airport, including transit or transfer passengers, will pay an extra charge of between HK$70 and HK$180, depending on the flight distance as well as the class of their ticket.

Authority chairman, Jack So Chak-kwong, pledged to work to restore public confidence in the ability of Hong Kong to complete a major infrastructure project on time and within budget.

“I have adhered to the principle of no budget overrun and no delay in the past. I hope infrastructure projects in the future will also adhere to this principle,” said So.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1932746/hong-kong-international-airport-splashes-out-hk5-billion-new

Chinese Activists Probe Colleges Over Sexist Job Adverts

Radio Free AsiaYesterday, 22:55

A group of women's rights activists in China have launched a campaign to probe sexist recruitment practices as prospective employers launched their spring graduate recruitment drive on campuses around the country.

Nine women have banded together to send freedom of information requests to more than 100 higher education institutions asking for details of action taken against sexist job advertisements.

While a 2013 government directive ordered universities and colleges to delete all gender-specific language from materials used in nationwide recruitment fairs, the activists say the practice is still ubiquitous.

"Gender discrimination is still very common in employment recruitment literature," one of the activists, who gave only a nickname Xiao Xia, told RFA in a recent interview.

"We often see recruitment advertisements on campus that say they are for men only, or that ask recruits about their plans for marriage, having children, or their age," she said.

Rights lawyer Huang Yizhi, who follows gender discrimination issues, said women are protected in a number of Chinese laws against employment discrimination, but that the law is rarely properly implemented.

"The ministry of education has ordered a clean-up of job recruitment adverts, but the necessary measures haven't been put into place, and the adverts are still there," Huang told RFA.

"There are also ways in which gender discrimination isn't visible, but it's still there," she said. "People are still being told at interviews that they won't get the job because of their gender."

"This is because the universities won't do anything to stop it, and it is linked to conditions in the labor market as a whole," Huang said.

"Even if the universities got it right, it wouldn't mean that there would be no gender discrimination elsewhere in the labor market," she said. "The universities are just one area among many that needs looking at."

Raising public awareness

Xiao Xia said she and her fellow activists are hoping to raise public awareness of the issue at the same time.

"There aren't many people who are concerned about university and job opportunities for women, so I hope that we'll raise awareness of the issue through this campaign," Xia said.

"We hope that it will lead to the breaking of the glass ceiling and more opportunities for women," she said.

Meanwhile, the feminist activist group Feminist Faction said on Thursday that its social media accounts had been frozen in recent days.

While content searches for "women's rights" on the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo returned a normal-looking list of search results on Thursday, attempts to register an account containing the words "women's rights" were blocked.

"Your account name contains sensitive words. Please select different words for your account name," the message read.

Xiong Jing, social media editor of the website Gender in China, which contains the words "women's rights" in Chinese, said censors frequently have deleted her group’s posts.

"Our account may not have been deleted, but our posts are often deleted," Xiong told RFA on Thursday. "That's normal."

Reality is very different

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has promoted gender equality, at least in theory, since it came to power in 1949.

But women's and rights campaigners say the reality is very different on the ground and that discrimination still presents major obstacles to equality.

Last year, the authorities detained feminists Li Tingting, Wei Tingting, Wang Man, Zheng Churan and Wu Rongrong, holding them for five weeks on public order charges after they planned a public transport awareness campaign to combat sexual harassment.

The five women, whose detention prompted an international outcry, are still not allowed to leave their hometowns without police approval, and still have the charges hanging over them although their lawyers say they broke no law.

The Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing set out a challenging program of improvements to the rights and opportunities offered to women and girls around the world, as well as requiring governments to report back to the United Nations on progress in key areas.

The Beijing Declaration produced by the conference included a pledge to "ensure equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all women and girls."

Reported by Xin Lin and Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/chinese-activists-probe-colleges-over-sexist-job-adverts-03312016102205.html

Interview: 'China's Government Needs to Relax'

Radio Free AsiaYesterday, 23:10

Bao Tong, a former top aide to late former premier Zhao Ziyang, served a seven-year jail term in the wake of the 1989 military crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square. Since his release, state security police have had him under continual surveillance and frequent house arrest at his Beijing. RFA's Cantonese Service caught up with him on Wednesday shortly after he managed to attend a behind-closed-doors meal for retired government officials.

RFA: Where were you allowed to travel to today, what was the occasion?

Bao Tong: It was mostly elderly people in their eighties and nineties. There weren't too many [state security police] watching us. We were able to communicate freely with each other. Some of them were under surveillance the whole time, but they weren't prevented from coming. I knew that wherever I went there would be people following me, but they never actually stopped me from going in to a specific hotel, nor did they actually come in and try to listen to what I was saying.

RFA: What do you think of the current political climate in China?

Bao Tong: The government has never asked me for my opinion, and I have never offered it to them [directly] in the form of a suggestion. Things have gotten pretty tense lately, but actually, there's no need for that. If everybody relaxed a bit, then everything would just normalize again. This would benefit everyone, not just ordinary Chinese citizens, but officials as well. Whether or not they can achieve such a thing is another matter.

RFA: Some people are worried that the new round of crackdowns under President Xi Jinping could take China back to another Cultural Revolution. What do you think about that?

Bao Tong: I don't think that'll happen. The conditions aren't in place for another Cultural Revolution. We had Mao Zedong back then, but we don't have him now, do we? There hasn't been a single leader since Mao who had it in their power to launch such an unprecedented phenomenon, and I don't think there ever will be again. Even if Mao were to rise from the dead and try to launch another political mass movement, I don't think it would happen

That's my personal view, and I don't know what others think about it. What we need right now is more leniency, not more tension. I think all of this tension has been caused by a misjudgement. We should be able to live normal lives in a normal society. There's no need to ratchet the tension up so high. I really think they should ease off a bit.

RFA: Some people have said that your criticism of the system from within the system isn't doing the next generation any favors. What do you say to them?

Bao Tong: I don't think for a minute that I am more capable than the younger generation. I think they are more thoughtful and careful in many ways. And, I don't believe that things just keep getting worse in the long-term.

RFA: Where did you eat today?

Bao Tong: I won't tell you the name of the hotel, because I don't want to give them free advertising.

Reported by Wong Siu-san and Lam Lok-tung for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/interviewchina-relax-03312016104558.html

UN Bribery Scandal Implicates CCP’s Jiang faction

by Liang Zhen, Epoch Times

China – The Epoch TimesYesterday, 18:55

A series of major breakthroughs have been achieved in the case of Macau real estate businessman Ng Lap Seng’s bribery of John W. Ashe, the former president of the United Nations General Assembly. This and other corruption cases in Macau have been linked to the Jiang faction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Macau, which is separated from Hong Kong by only a strip of water, has always been considered a main channel of corruption and money laundering for CCP officials. Earlier this year, the Chinese Central Discipline Inspection (CCDI) stationed a team leader of discipline inspection in the State Council of Hong Kong and Macau for the first time.

The team leader, Li Qiufang, recently told the media that the corruption within the system in Hong Kong and Macau is under investigation. Meanwhile, a few major cases were cracked in Macau.

These include the breakthroughs in Ng’s complex bribery scheme, the imprisonment of the nephew of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho for manipulating prostitution, and the arrest of former Macau Attorney General Ho Chio Meng for corruption.

All of these cases are related to the Macau business and political forces of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin and his supporter, former Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong.

Ng’s Bribery

On March 16, 2016, Francis Lorenzo, a deputy permanent representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, pleaded guilty to assisting Ng in bribing Ashe.

A Chinese female suspect was arrested on March 17. The latest development reveals that Hong Kong has also been involved in the case.

On March 18, a China-born woman, Julia Vivi Wang (alias Vivian Wang), the vice president of two U.N. non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—South-South News and the International Organization for South-South Cooperation (IOSSC)—was charged with paying half a million U.S. dollars in bribes to buy Antiguan diplomatic positions in Hong Kong for her husband and another man.

The indictment alleged that in 2012, Wang began to use the New York bank accounts of the two NGOs to receive funds from China and bribe two U.N. officials, Ashe and Francis Lorenzo. Lorenzo was the president of the two NGOs.

The New York Times reported that Ashe emailed Wang in March 2013, attaching a letter to her husband that said Antigua was going to open an “investment office” in Hong Kong and that he would be appointed economic envoy or honorary consul. The other Chinese businessman would be appointed deputy.

According to Lorenzo, this position can help people acquire citizenship through investment and business arrangements. The report also mentioned that more Antiguan government officials, including the former Prime Minister of Antigua, were involved in the bribery.

The case also disclosed that Ng’s foundation donated US$1.5 million to the IOSSC. After Ng was arrested, the United Nations rejected the remainder of a US$15 million offer by the foundation.

Last October, U.S. authorities filed a charge against six persons, including Ashe, Lorenzo, Ng Lap Seng (alias David Ng), Ng’s personal assistant Jeff C. Yin (alias Yin Chuan), CEO of Global Sustainability Foundation Shiwei Yan (alias Sheri Yan), and Yan’s finance director Heidi Hong Piao (alias Heidi Park).

Yan, Lorenzo, and Park have already pleaded guilty. Ng was allowed to post bail of US$50 million and enter home detention in the United States.

Extensive network

Along with the startling disclosures of the inside stories of this international corruption case, a network among Ng and his political and business partners as well as the CCP’s top level officers was also extensively uncovered.

Born in Guangdong Province, Ng Lap Seng moved to Macau in 1979. He established his business by selling cloth in street stalls.

According to a source from the real estate sector in Macau, Ng remained very low-key in Macau and was good at spending large amounts of money to weave an extensive business and political network, which even links Ng with top-level officers in Beijing.

Ng has maintained a close relationship with former Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho and casino tycoon Stanley Ho. In the early 1990s, they together established a consortium, Nam Van Development Co. SARL The consortium featured some of Macau’s biggest names, including Board President Stanley Ho, Vice President Edmund Ho, and Ng as an executive director.

Ties to Jiang faction

Ng is a member of the Macau Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee and was received by Jiang Zemin.

Ng Lap Seng won a contract to build the Lotus Bridge, which connects Zhuhai City and Macau, one of the most important strategic projects before the communist regime took over Macau in 1999.

In the opinion of Macau’s Merchant Circle, as a business assistant of former Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho, Ng was able to win the Lotus Bridge contract and assume key duties, such as being a member of the SAR Preparatory Committee. Ng had to throw himself into the lap of Jiang.

Stanley Ho and Edmund Ho are considered to be Jiang’s two major forces in Macau.

Edmund Ho was designated by Jiang as the first Chief Executive of Macau and forced through the controversial anti-subversion legislation Article 23 in Macau.

Stanley Ho has often been received by Jiang as an honored guest, his fourth “wife” once sang songs with Jiang, which became a popular joke.

What made Ng surface in Western society was his involvement in the political contributions funnelled into the committee for re-electing President Bill Clinton, which occurred before the U.S. presidential election in 1996.

At that time, Jiang was still in power. Although Ng was never prosecuted for this scandal, he became the prototype of a Chinese businessman in the popular U.S. TV series “House of Cards.”

Last September, Ng was arrested for bringing a huge amount of cash into the United States and was charged with a number of offenses, including bribery and tax evasion.

In 2006, the Japanese media SAPIO disclosed a report detailing that the Clintons accepted large donations from Chinese spies, which also involved several top-level officials of the Democratic Party in the United States. The report bluntly pointed out that the commander of all these communist spies was Jiang.

Chau Chak Wing

In the bribery case of John Ashe, the United Nations ordered an investigation on Chinese Australian businessman Chau Chak Wing, the boss of Guangzhou Kingold Group, as Chau was alleged to have bribed Ashe to attend a meeting in Guangzhou City.

According to China issues expert Shi Cangshang’s analysis, Chau has been engaging in overseas political tasks for Zeng Qinghong and the Jiang faction.

Similar to Ng, Chau is Australia’s largest overseas political donor, having donated millions of Australian dollars to the Australian Liberal Party and the Labour Party.

In the 1970s, Chau immigrated to Hong Kong from China and then to Australia. He shuttled between Australia and Guangzhou since 1989, Chau maintains a close personal relationship with Wang Xiaoling, a niece of Zeng Qinghong’s wife.

Wang Xiaoling’s luxurious 300-square-meter dwelling in Guangzhou was constructed by Chau’s company. Chau not only paid 3 million Chinese yuan (US$460,000) for the renovation, but also allowed Wang to pay only 20 percent of the house price.

The aforementioned accused woman Sheri Yan, who is Chinese American, is the wife of a former Australian Embassy diplomat. She also worked for Chau for five years.

Yan is an Australian social celebrity. The foundation she worked for keeps close contact with many businessmen and politicians in mainland China.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Yan’s husband, Roger Uren is a media executive and former Australian intelligence analyst who was once tipped to become Australian ambassador to Beijing. He is now working for the Hong Kong-based CCP mouthpiece Phoenix Television.

Translated by Thomas Leung. Edited by Sally Appert.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2009351-un-bribery-scandal-implicates-ccps-jiang-faction/