Politics

Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong has pledged to adopt a “zero tolerance” approach in safeguarding next month’s Legislative Council election, as the city’s anti-corruption agency charged three people for allegedly inciting others to boycott the poll.The law enforcement action coincided with a renewed warning from the Office for Safeguarding National Security against any attempts to disrupt the December 7 election, issued on the same day.“Some anti-China forces and external forces have not given up their evil intentions and continued to incite others – openly and covertly – to boycott the election,” a spokesman for the office said.The office accused these forces of spreading rumours and disrupting electoral order under the guise of “democracy and freedom”, with the “true aim” of ...

The president of mainland China’s premier science institution will host a seminar in Hong Kong next week to “study and implement” the spirit of the fourth plenum, which sets the tone for the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee’s policymaking over the next five years.A Hong Kong government spokesman on Thursday said the seminar, to be held next Tuesday, would promote the spirit of the fourth plenary session of the party’s 20th Central Committee among various sectors of the community.Speakers will include Hou Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Zhu Weidong, deputy director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs.“[The recommendations for the 15th five-year plan] adopted at the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Comm...

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau, police and customs have joined the government’s push to boost voter turnout in the coming Legislative Council election by releasing a series of lighthearted videos featuring top officials getting hair makeovers while using Cantonese puns to urge residents to vote.These clips play on the shared Cantonese pronunciation for “hair” and “law”, encouraging residents to prioritise voting over styling their hair.The campaigns feature Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung, Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming and Commissioner of Customs and Excise Chan Tsz-tat along with their deputies.The initiatives mark the latest efforts by authorities to encourage residents to vote in the Legco election on December 7, following ministers’ letters to civil servants callin...

Hong Kong is gearing up for a Legislative Council election on December 7, as 161 candidates are confirmed to be joining the race after nominations closed last week.With 5 per cent more hopefuls than the previous poll in 2021, this year’s election leaves no seats uncontested.There will also be fiercer competition in the geographical constituencies, as major political parties have fielded more candidates to run for the 20 seats directly elected by residents.Functional constituencies, comprising 30 seats, and the Election Committee constituency, which has 40 of the 90 seats in the legislature, are looking at a decline in the number of candidates. Both the functional and Election Committee constituencies have voters from their respective sectors, rather than general residents.From the entry of...

China remains a secure investment destination despite recent geopolitical tensions, Beijing’s foreign ministry arm in Hong Kong has told diplomats and business chambers at a high-profile meeting, while highlighting the city’s strategic role in building international ties.Cui Jianchun, commissioner of the foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong, on Wednesday met about 60 envoys, commerce chamber representatives and members of the international media for a one-hour sharing session on the Communist Party’s fourth plenum.The fourth plenum concluded on October 23, with the core agenda centring around formulating a blueprint for the country’s 15th five-year plan, which will guide national development from 2026 to 2030.Cui said the session in Hong Kong aimed to enhance foreign consuls and business...

In a new occasional series, outgoing lawmakers reflect on their time in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, which wrapped up its four-year term on October 24, ahead of the next general election on December 7.Hong Kong’s first “patriots-only” legislature has established a good model of executive-legislative relations where key policies are first discussed with officials in closed-door meetings, retiring legislator Doreen Kong Yuk-foon has said.Kong, 55, a solicitor by training, made her debut as an independent lawmaker in 2021, winning a seat in the first Legislative Council election after Beijing revamped the city’s electoral system to ensure only “patriots” held political power.Known for her outspoken views, she declared recently that she was ending her career as a lawmaker to return to her ...

Hong Kong is bouncing back, especially in finance, defying predictions of decline after the 2019 unrest and the 2020 national security law. The Hong Kong stock exchange has surged to the top of this year’s global rankings as the world’s largest initial public offering venue, with over 300 companies queuing up to list their shares.This resurgence signals resilience, but it also ignites a deeper debate: what kind of Hong Kong is emerging?Concern has swirled around the recent influx of mainland Chinese and whether their arrival will erode the city’s social fabric, hastening its slide into “just another Chinese city”. These worries surfaced vividly in my conversations with academics who hail from the mainland and foreign journalists revisiting after years away.Such concerns, while understandab...

Hong Kong Olympic gold medallist Vivian Kong Man-wai has declared her bid to run for the tourism constituency in the coming Legislative Council election and has applied to give up her Canadian passport, pledging to continue to “bring honour” to the city.The 31-year-old fencing star was flanked by tycoons such as Sino Group chairman Daryl Ng Win Kong and Kerry Properties chairman Kuok Khoon Hua as she submitted her nominations on Monday.Miramar Group chief operations officer Alan Chan Chung-yee and Travel Industry Council chairman Tommy Tam Kwong-shun also made appearances to show their support.Kong said she was grateful for the opportunity and the support of the tourism industry, adding that she hoped to “show the world” how great Hong Kong was.“As an athlete, I had the opportunity to repr...

There has been more intense competition for the coming Legislative Council election amid an unprecedented level of uncertainty, with neither a “blessing list” nor a “sure win” scenario for any candidate, according to a commentary posted by Beijing’s top office for the city’s affairs.The piece, reposted by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) on Monday night, marked Beijing’s latest attempt in recent weeks to stress that there were no candidates being endorsed by central authorities in the December 7 poll.The commentary, which first appeared in the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao, said there would be “tougher” competition in the coming poll than in previous elections, with a “diverse” range of candidates providing “a real choice” for voters with higher expectations.“There is nei...

Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong has pledged to support the city’s integration into national development plans while stressing the importance of studying and applying the “spirit” of the country’s recent political leadership meeting, which will shape policymaking over the next five years.The head of the central government’s liaison office, Zhou Ji, conveyed on Saturday the guiding ideology of the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and laid out the work requirements for the city. The plenary session concluded on Thursday.The meeting, which was attended by the heads of various departments of the office and representatives of other Beijing’s arms in Hong Kong, stressed that studying and implementing the spirit of the fourth plenum was “a ...