Cathay Pacific Airways (國泰航空) chief executive officer Rupert Hogg (何杲) quit yesterday, the highest-profile corporate casualty of unrest roiling Hong Kong, after Beijing targeted the airline over staff involvement in mass protests.
Hogg, 57, resigned to “take responsibility” as a company leader following recent events, Hong Kong’s flag carrier said.
The board appointed Augustus Tang (鄧健榮), 60, as Cathay’s new CEO, it said in a statement.
Photo: EPA-EFE/South China Morning Post
The corporate upheaval comes ahead of a weekend when further protests are planned, including what could be a large gathering tomorrow that could test whether a movement that has enjoyed broad support can retain it, even as violence escalates.
Demonstrators have said they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997.
Police have granted permission for a rally called “Stand with Hong Kong, Power to the People” planned in the central business district tonight, but they have banned other protests planned for the weekend.
A rally planned for tomorrow by the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized million-strong marches in June, has been given permission to hold an assembly in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island, but not a march, due to safety concerns.
Another march planned in Kowloon’s Hung Hom neighbourhood today has also been banned.
Chinese paramilitary troops have been training this week in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, in a clear warning to the protesters, but Hong Kong police yesterday said that they are capable of maintaining law and order on their own.
Meanwhile, celebrated “French Spider-Man” Alain Robert scaled the side of an iconic Hong Kong skyscraper yesterday to unfurl a banner calling for peace between Hong Kong and China.
Decked out in colorful climbing gear, Robert climbed up Cheung Kong Center in downtown Hong Kong — the nerve center of billionaire Li Ka-Shing’s (李嘉誠) business empire — to hang a large flag on the building’s exterior.
The banner depicted juxtaposed flags of Hong Kong and China atop a symbolic handshake, a seeming plea for peace.
Robert, known for scaling iconic skyscrapers across the world without ropes or protection, was detained after making his way to the top of the Hong Kong landmark.
“He’s laughing and smiling and he just wants to be released,” John Pickavant, Robert’s lawyer, told reporters.
Building security officials kept Robert for more than 30 minutes before he was “whisked away” to a police station, Pickavant said.
“He saw what was going on and he was very deeply upset and I think he wanted everyone just to put their hands together,” Pickavant added. “He just wanted peace for everyone.”
The ad hoc action coincided with a series of front-page ads that Li, known locally as “Superman” for his business and investment acumen, took out in local newspapers.
“Love freedom, love tolerance, love the rule of law,” he said in the advertisements, signing them as “a Hong Kong citizen.”
“Love China, love Hong Kong, love yourself. The best cause can lead to the worst result. Stop anger in the name of love,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
RSS