Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday said the territory was at a new starting point for development under the National Security Law imposed last year, and that her priority would be to focus on tackling a long-standing housing shortage.
Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have long blamed unaffordable housing in the former British colony for deep-rooted social problems that they say helped fuel pro-democracy protests in 2019.
“Fortunately, the implementation of the National Security Law and the improvement to our electoral system have restored safety and stability in society. Hong Kong is now ready again for a new start for economic development,” Lam said in her annual policy address.
Photo: AFP
Beijing imposed the law on Hong Kong in June last year. It punishes what authorities broadly define as secession, sedition and collusion with foreign forces with sentences of up to life in prison.
Critics say it is being used to crush freedoms promised under the “one country, two systems” formula agreed upon when the territory was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government say the law is needed to safeguard prosperity and stability, and guard against outside interference.
Lam’s focus in her speech was on ensuring affordable housing to the territory’s 7.5 million people.
“Providing decent accommodation for all is the primary goal of my housing policy. Noting the public concern on the matter, I reviewed the progress and set out my vision on the issue,” she said.
Private home prices hit a record high in July, buoyed by limited housing supply and large flows of capital from Chinese buyers.
Making housing more affordable has been a priority for all of Hong Kong’s leaders since 1997, although the prospect of owning a home is still a distant dream for many.
Even residents with good jobs and salaries have struggled to get on the property ladder.
Last month, Reuters reported that Beijing had in a series of meetings this year given a new mandate to the territory’s powerful tycoons, saying they should pour resources and influence into helping solve the housing shortage.
The average waiting time for public housing in Hong Kong has climbed steadily and now stands at more than 5.5 years.
Compounding the problem, home prices in former farming areas about an hour’s commute from the heart of the financial center have also surged, buoyed in part by Chinese parents eager to educate their children in the territory.
North Korea yesterday made a rare mention of dissenting votes in recent elections, although analysts dismissed it as an attempt to portray an image of a normal society rather than signaling any meaningful increase of rights in the authoritarian state. The reclusive country has one of the most highly controlled societies in the world, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused of using a system of patronage and repression to retain absolute power. Reporting on the results of Sunday’s election for deputies to regional people’s assemblies, the North’s state media said that 0.09 percent and 0.13 percent voted against the selected candidates
WEATHER PROBLEM: Seoul said the launch, which comes after the North said its new spy satellite is taking images of US military facilities, was rescheduled for Saturday South Korea has delayed the planned launch of its first military spy satellite set for tomorrow, officials said, days after rival North Korea said it had put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time. Under a contract with SpaceX, South Korea is to launch five spy satellites by 2025, and its first launch using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had been scheduled to take place at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense yesterday said in a brief statement that the launch was delayed due to weather conditions. Ministry officials said the
ECONOMICS? ECONOMICS? The new prime minister said that taxing cigarette sales would contribute revenue, while banning them would create a flourishing black market New Zealand’s plans for world-leading anti-smoking laws are to be revoked, Christopher Luxon confirmed yesterday after being sworn in as prime minister, in a move described as a “huge win for the tobacco industry.” Former airline boss Luxon took over six weeks after his conservative National Party won national elections, ending a six-year Labour Party reign ushered in by former prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Luxon, 53, was sworn in as head of a new coalition government by New Zealand Governor-General Cindy Kiro in a ceremony in the capital, Wellington. “It is an honor and an awesome responsibility,” Luxon told reporters. The conservative said he
ELECTION INTERFERENCE: Meta did not publicly link the account network to the Chinese government, but said it is based in China and sought to inflate divisions within the US Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarizing political content in an apparent effort to divide the US ahead of next year’s presidential elections, Meta said on Thursday. The network of about 4,800 fake accounts was attempting to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The accounts sported fake photos, names and locations as a way to appear like everyday American Facebook users weighing in on political issues. Instead of spreading fake content as other networks
RSS