~hong-kong-free-pres | Bookmarks (740)

Taiwan’s Presidential Office staged on Thursday its first tabletop simulation of China’s military actions in the region to boost the island’s readiness against “authoritarian expansion”, a security official said. Tabletop exercises are a tool strategists use to game out how real-world scenarios may unfold, testing how organisations will react and coordinate against a simulated threat. […]

Taiwan prosecutors on Thursday indicted an ex-mayor of Taipei and former presidential candidate on charges of corruption and misusing political donations and said they were seeking 28 years’ jail for him. Ko Wen-je, leader of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), ran as a third-party candidate in January’s presidential election and won about a quarter of […]

The Hong Kong government has condemned Washington for extending sanctions imposed on local officials through to November 2019. US President Joe Biden signed the US$895 billion (HK$6.94 trillion) National Defense Authorization Act on Monday – an annual piece of legislation that funds US defence and directs foreign policy. The massive package extended section seven of […]

Founding member of the Democratic Party Martin Lee has been stripped of his title as Justice of the Peace. Lee’s appointment was revoked by Chief Executive John Lee, according to a gazette notice issued on Friday afternoon. The notice did not provide a reason for the revocation. Under Hong Kong law, justices of the peace […]

The Hong Kong government has condemned “slanderous remarks” by the US, UK, Canada, the European Union (EU) and “anti-China organisations,” after they criticised a new round of national security arrest warrants, bounties and the cancellation of passports as “transnational repression.” Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday defended its move to cancel the passports of seven “fugitive” […]

Did you notice the odd thing about the two latest appointments to the upper ranks of the government? Both of the women appointed to secretarial posts were career civil servants, who were recruited to the administrative officer ranks in (coincidentally) 1989. This is not quite the way these things were supposed to work. Before 2002 […]

A leading US government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department said Tuesday, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism. The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit established in 2016, shuttered on Monday at a time when officials and experts tracking propaganda have been […]

2024 in Hong Kong saw tens of thousands of Lionel Messi fans disappointed by the footballer’s no-show, a historic medal haul at the Paris Olympics, and homegrown movies that topped box office receipts. From local headlines to global current affairs, here’s what Hongkongers Googled most this year according to the search engine’s end-of-year trends report. […]

More than 160 Chinese workers have been saved from “slave-like conditions” in Brazil, where they had been building an electric car factory for Chinese giant BYD, officials said Tuesday. BYD’s Brazilian subsidiary said in a statement late Monday it has “broken with immediate effect” its contract with the company responsible for the work on the […]

Cars, trucks and buses are banned from some of Hong Kong’s outlying islands including Lamma, a haven for those seeking peace and quiet. Instead, island logistics rely on a fleet of dozens of mini tip-trucks. Owning one of these toy-like vehicles, however, can cost a million Hong Kong dollars – more than a top-trim status […]

A man who ploughed his car into a crowd of mostly school children in central China last month was handed a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve, state media reported Monday. In November, the attacker, named as Huang Wen, repeatedly rammed his car into a crowd outside a primary school in Hunan province, state […]

China will raise its deficit in order to boost spending next year, its finance minister said Tuesday according to state media, as Beijing looks to prop up its struggling economy. The world’s second-largest economy has for years battled sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt. Beijing unveiled a […]

Hong Kong’s environmental authorities have issued HK$2,000 penalty notices to two restaurants within the first two months of a disposable plastics ban. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said on Monday it had received 62 complaints about businesses that were not complying with the ban since it officially took effect on October 22 after a six-month […]

Hong Kong has for the first time adopted facial recognition technology at a land border checkpoint, a scheme the government aims to expand to other checkpoints. Officials hosted an opening ceremony for the reprovisioned Chung Ying Street Checkpoint in the border town of Sha Tau Kok on Monday afternoon. Eric Chan, the chief secretary for […]

Hong Kong national security police have issued a fresh round of arrest warrants for six people living overseas, including self-exiled activists, a former pollster and an ex-actor. A reward of HK$1 million has been offered for information leading to their arrests. Police on Tuesday announced the arrest warrant against activist Tony Chung, the former convenor […]

The Hong Kong government has cancelled the HKSAR passports of seven “absconders” using under the city’s homegrown security law, including former lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok who are now based overseas. Secretary for Security Chris Tang on Tuesday invoked his powers under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – known as Article 23 – and […]

TikTok’s breakneck rise from niche video-sharing app to global social media behemoth has drawn intense scrutiny, particularly over its links to China. In Washington, the platform has been accused of espionage. The European Union suspects it was used to sway Romania’s presidential election in favour of a far-right candidate. Explainer: Why is TikTok banned in […]

The Philippine military said Monday it plans to acquire the US Typhon missile system to protect its maritime interests, some of which overlap with regional power China. The US Army deployed the mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines earlier this year for annual joint military exercises with its longtime ally, and decided to leave […]

Hong Kong’s food and beverage sector has benefited from the recent resumption of multiple-entry visas for Shenzhen residents, an industry veteran has said. The winter solstice period has seen a recovery in business nearing pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, they added. Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told RTHK on […]

Interest in providing foster care has surged with inquiries increasing 35 per cent year-on-year between April and November this year. It follows official moves to more than double foster families’ monthly allowances from HK$5,000 to HK$11,000. Since April, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) also raised the monthly reward for families providing “emergency foster care” from […]

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has received 17 complaints, after some local football fans failed to meet legendary players from Real Madrid CF, as promised for an exhibition match with ticket packages costing almost HK$7,000. As of 11 am on Monday, the Consumer Council had received 17 complaints involving an amount of HK$125,017, with a single […]

Hong Kong authorities have found some 100,000 illegal structures at around half of the city’s village houses inspected so far. They plan to allow a grace period for houses with minor unlawful structures, given the sheer caseload. Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said that the illegal additions were found at 60,000 village homes in Hong […]

A Hong Kong man has been jailed for four years and one month over rioting and wounding others with intent during a mob attack in Yuen Long in 2019. Tang Ka-man appeared at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday. He was found guilty last month after a trial. The case relates to a […]

A US report which alleged that Hong Kong’s unique system had been “withered away,” leaving it “nearly indistinguishable” from mainland cities, has been condemned by the local government and Beijing. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) – a US government body monitoring human rights conditions in China – published its annual report on Friday. It […]