Hong Kong chief executive John Lee (李家超) might emulate the Chinese government by establishing a surveillance mechanism in the territory, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.
The report, analyzing the possible influences the new chief executive might bring to Hong Kong, said the inauguration of Lee on Friday is Beijing’s signal that Hong Kong’s civil service system would be restructured and the power of administrative officers would be weakened.
Lee’s team in April released its political platform, which avoided urgent issues such as reforming the “one country, two systems” framework, post-COVID-19 economic stimulus programs, Hong Kong district council by-elections, conflicts between Hong Kong and China, the split between the government and the public, freedom of the press and labor rights, the report said.
Instead, Lee pledged to give Hong Kongers a government that “does things and gets things done,” and said that he would lead an outcome-focused administration if he were to be elected, the report said.
His platform included four guiding principles that the pro-establishment camp has been concerned about, it said.
His vows to facilitate the supply of land and houses, as well as enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness, were extensions of the “Greater Bay Area” project that aims to integrate Hong Kong with the Chinese mainland, the report said.
Lee said he would also create “a caring society” and support youth development,” focusing on raising the quality of education, especially regarding the professionalism and training of teachers, to heighten national consciousness.
It is noteworthy that Lee has pledged to bolster the government’s ability to govern, including by redrafting Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which criminalizes treason, secession, sedition, subversion and theft of state secrets, the report said.
He said he would “set up a new emergency mobilization mechanism” to strengthen the executive power of the government when new risks present, it said.
More specifically, he said he planned to set up a systematic volunteer network, which would consist of service and care groups in the 18 districts of Hong Kong, to have a clear grasp of the number, capabilities and background of the personnel that could be mobilized, it said.
The “emergency mobilization mechanism” refers to a set of command and execution systems established in the event of major public incidents and crises, the report said, adding that the systems, with centralized control and distribution of resources, would be led and supervised by important officials.
The measures seem to suggest that the Hong Kong government’s current system is not capable of handling emergencies such as social movements or pandemics and therefore, the proposed “emergency mobilization mechanism,” might be a step toward emulating the kind of “grassroots management and surveillance mechanism” that is implemented in China, the report said.
While implementation details of the measures have not yet been announced, Hong Kong seems to be ushering in a government that would comprehensively monitor society — similar to that in China, it said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS