Politics

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 ensuring sufficient resources for future growth, all against an increasingly volatile and dangerous global backdrop.Article 107 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law requires the government to “follow the principle of keeping the expenditure within the limits of revenues in drawing up its budget, and strive to achieve a fiscal balance”.Chan, however, was not the architect of significant expansions in recurrent public spending. Since the 2010s, successive c...

Hong Kong entrepreneurs with operations in the Middle East are recalibrating their global footprints to hedge against mounting geopolitical instability and losses resulting from the widening conflict in Iran.The shift in business strategy followed the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran last week, prompting firms to draw up contingency plans and pivot to Europe or Southeast Asia to de-risk their portfolios and ensure supply chain continuity.The war escalated with Iran’s retaliation, heightening tensions across the region. Several Middle Eastern countries sustained damage from missile and drone strikes, with some reporting casualties as key embassies, economic engines and passageways closed, while tens of thousands of flights were cancelled.“Our business is seriously affected by the war...

Escalating geopolitical tensions will not derail Hong Kong’s goal set out in the country’s 15th five-year plan and its efforts to implement the blueprint, former leader Leung Chun-ying has said, describing agility and adaptability as in the city’s DNA.The vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, also said that Beijing expected Hong Kong to serve national development more proactively, calling on the city to “step forward to raise our hand”.Speaking to the South China Morning Post in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual “two sessions” political gathering, Leung expressed confidence that Hong Kong could navigate the heightened geopolitical tensions.“Hong Kong has always been very quick off its feet, very adaptive,” h...

The annual “two sessions” in Beijing are under way, and this year the annual ritual of reading tea leaves in this city has been made easier for politics watchers. That is because Beijing has been blunt about the problems it thinks our city faces.There is the usual praise for the Hong Kong government and Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s leadership. One striking difference is that Premier Li Qiang included in his annual work report, delivered at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), a call on Hong Kong to improve its governance and align itself with the national plan. Li has made the central government’s position clear: improve the city’s governance and get with the programme already.Xia Baolong, Beijing’s point man in charge of Hong Kong affairs, warned the city in ...

Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang has acknowledged it is no “easy task” to truly implement Hong Kong’s executive-led governance system, stressing that it must be a “shared responsibility” of the legislative and judicial branches and society as a whole.But Ding, the head of the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, said an executive-led governance system was “important and essential” for the city to align with China’s 15th five-year plan and advance its integration with the mainland.“It requires the chief executive and the government to strengthen their sense of being the head [of the city], and will need the coordination from all sectors of society.”Ding, the sixth-ranked Politburo Standing Committee member, added that putting the executive-led system into effect also requ...

A former Apple Daily senior executive jailed for national security offences in Hong Kong has lodged an appeal against his 10-year term, the first in a landmark trial that saw the founder of the now-defunct tabloid-style newspaper sentenced to 20 years in prison.Court documents reviewed by the South China Morning Post on Tuesday showed that Fung Wai-kong, former managing editor of Apple Daily’s English edition, had filed his appeal with the city’s High Court on Monday.Fung was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces last month.The verdict was delivered by a panel of three judges who also handed down penalties to former media boss and Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, six senior executives of the newspaper, three firms associated with the n...

Hong Kong tycoons have expressed confidence in the Middle East’s economic outlook amid continued strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks, stressing that the city’s economy is unlikely to be affected.Speaking to the media in Beijing on the sidelines of the “two sessions” – the nation’s annual parliamentary meetings – on Wednesday, Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, former heir apparent to Hong Kong property giant New World Development, said the Middle East’s economic prospects remained promising.“Most of the Middle East’s economies are mature; we are cautiously optimistic about their prospects,” the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member said.Cheng also said the city could benefit from turmoil.“If Hong Kong continues as a superconnecto...

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called on Hong Kong to leverage its “unique strengths” and pivotal role in connecting with the world, with backing from the mainland.In the government work report he delivered at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Thursday, the country’s No 2 official also stressed the need to transform the Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology (I&T) hub, urging the city to enhance governance efficiency.“[We should] support their integration and contribution to the overall national development and leverage the unique advantages and important roles of Hong Kong and Macau as they are backed by the motherland and connected to the world, thus fostering long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macau,” h...

Hong Kong should speed up the construction of the Northern Metropolis megaproject near the border with the mainland and the development of a commodity trading ecosystem, according to the draft outline of China’s 15th five-year plan.Other priorities included stronger integration with national development on the economic, technological and social fronts, especially deepening cross-border connections of financial markets.The draft, which sets China’s economic and social development targets for 2026 to 2030, was tabled on Thursday at the opening of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature.While the draft echoed the previous blueprint’s support for Hong Kong’s “eight centres” strategy, it particularly highlighted the Northern Metropolis, a megaproject transforming 30,...

Beijing has vowed to take all necessary measures to safeguard the rights of Chinese enterprises after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that a contract held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to operate two ports at the country’s canal was unconstitutional.The Hong Kong government on Friday also slammed the ruling, which could leave the Li Ka-shing-controlled CK Hutchison empire at risk of losing its right to operate two major ports at either end of the strategic Panama Canal.The court’s decision was announced in a statement posted on the official social media account of the Panamanian judiciary on Thursday local time.The court said the concession contract for the development, construction, operation, administration and management of the Balboa and Cristobal ports between ...