About 600 Hong Kong workers protested in downtown Hong Kong yesterday, demanding that the government cut taxes and increase jobs in the face of an economic downturn.
Carrying placards and shouting slogans, members from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions marched from a downtown park to the nearby government headquarters to highlight the plight of workers, who are facing salary cuts and job losses.
They called on the government to implement effective economic polices, including reducing taxes and creating jobs by building infrastructure.
Hong Kong's unemployment surged to 4.7 percent in the three months ending July 31. Although it's well below its peak of 6.3 percent in 1999 and lower than the figures in many countries, many people in Hong Kong fear the worst is yet to come, amid more reports of company layoffs.
Hurt by falling exports due to a global economic slowdown, particularly in Japan and the US, Hong Kong's economy slipped 1.7 percentage points from the first quarter of the fiscal year to the second.
The government has revised its growth forecast for the year from 3 percent to 1 percent, and economists believe Hong Kong could soon slip into a recession.
Separately, Financial Secretary Antony Leung said he was encouraged by the optimistic outlook for the US economy after a meeting with the US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Suzhou, O'Neill said he believed the US economy will show signs of recovery from its slowdown by the end of this year.
``Being as externally oriented as Hong Kong's economy [is], and given that the US is our major trading partner, a robust and vibrant US economy will help our economic recovery,'' Leung said after meeting with O'Neill.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary