HONG KONG, Sept 19, 2023 (AFP) – China has given foreign consulates in Hong Kong a month to submit their local staffers’ names, home addresses and job descriptions, according to diplomatic sources and documents seen by AFP on Tuesday. The documents include a letter in English and Chinese dated Monday from Beijing’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (OCMFA), as well as two forms for consulates to fill in with their […]
Tag: Hongkong
Embracing extraordinary times! ASEAN in Focus – Sept. 4, 2023
Hong Kong saw hottest summer on record in 2023
HONG KONG, Sept 4, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong experienced its hottest summer on record this year, with the city seeing “record-breaking” temperatures, the government said Monday, the latest region to experience the impact of a warming planet. Climate change has fuelled searing temperatures across the globe already this year, with India, Japan and Australia last week announcing recent temperature records toppled. In the semi-autonomous Chinese region of Hong Kong, officials declared on Monday that […]
Typhoon Saola slams southern China after battering Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Sept 1, 2023 (AFP) – Typhoon Saola roared ashore in southern China early Saturday as a weakened but still dangerous threat that has lashed Hong Kong and forced millions to hunker down for one of the region’s strongest storms in decades. Tens of millions of people across Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other southern Chinese megacities had braced for the menace of a cyclone rated as a super typhoon. And while it delivered a […]
Hong Kong top court affirms mandatory sentences under security law
HONG KONG, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s top court on Tuesday issued a landmark ruling affirming mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of national security crimes, potentially affecting dozens of pro-democracy figures standing trial or appealing jail terms. The national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of democracy protests sets out minimum jail terms for serious offences, a feature rarely seen in the former British colony’s criminal justice […]
Wanted Hong Kong activists in Britain decry ‘harassment’
LONDON, Aug 22, 2023 (AFP) – A heightened fear for their safety, increased worry for their families, and a desperate search for international support — this is what dominates everyday life for two activists in Britain who are among Hong Kong’s most wanted. Last month, Hong Kong police announced bounties of HK$1 million ($128,000) on eight democratic activists living abroad, encouraging the public to pass on information that could lead to their arrest. Former legislator […]
Cathay Pacific rebounds to first-half profit as travel picks up
HONG KONG, Aug 9, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific on Wednesday swung to a healthy profit in the first half of the year thanks to a pick-up in travel, with the airline expecting passenger capacity to reach 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels by end of the year. The airline said it made a $546 million profit in January-June, rebounding from a loss of $640 million in the same period last year. It […]
Hong Kong questions more families of wanted activists
HONG KONG, July 24, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong national security police on Monday took in family members of businessman-turned-activist Elmer Yuen for questioning, one of the eight fugitives with bounties on their heads for allegedly breaching national security. The city announced this month that eight pro-democracy activists, all of whom now live overseas, are wanted for national security crimes, and offered rewards of HK$1 million ($128,000) for each of them. Since then, the […]
China says UK offering ‘protection to fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong activists
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after its foreign secretary slammed Hong Kong’s decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas. “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in London said in a statement late Monday. “This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs,” they continued. “China […]
A decade on, giant duck brings a friend home to roost in Hong Kong
By Celia CAZALE and Holmes CHAN Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Ten years after a giant inflatable yellow duck captivated crowds in Hong Kong, the art installation returned to the city’s Victoria Harbor on Friday as a double-bill exhibition. The twin 18-metre-tall (59-feet) sculptures by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman are part of the Rubber Duck series that has made appearances in major cities since its 2007 debut. The faddish artwork previously […]
Hong Kong launches retail-friendly rules for crypto exchanges
HONG KONG, June 1, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong rolled out new rules on Thursday allowing licensed cryptocurrency exchanges to service retail customers, bucking the global trend of tightening rules after last year’s market crash. The Chinese finance hub is racing regulators around the world to lay down ground rules for crypto after high-profile failures like trading platform FTX, which led the United States to crack down on a sector worth more than $1 trillion. […]
Jack Ma accepts university teaching post in Hong Kong
Jack Ma, founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, has been made an honorary professor of business at a top Hong Kong university, the school announced Friday. The appointment comes weeks after the billionaire made a rare public appearance in China following his fall from grace during a government crackdown on the tech industry over two years ago. Ma has kept a low profile since late 2020, when a speech he made attacking Chinese regulators was […]
