Talking Points

Handover memoir set for official launch

Chen Zuoer, a former key negotiator for the mainland government, will officially launch his memoir, Negotiations on The Handover of Sovereignty of Hong Kong - A Witness Recounts in Admiralty. In excerpts released this week, Chen writes that former governor Chris Patten's attempts to introduce political reforms before the 1997 handover had angered Beijing. Patten's reforms ran counter to secret agreements between Britain and China, of which Patten was unaware, Chen says.

US court hears Apple's Samsung complaint

A US District Court judge in San Jose, California, will hear Apple's demand for a sales ban on eight Samsung Electronics products. Last month a jury ruled in favour of Apple's claim that Samsung infringed its patents by copying designs for its smartphones and tablets. Samsung was ordered to pay US$1.05 billion. Samsung will appeal against the decision, saying it was "unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners".

Beijing steps up Tiananmen clean-up

Sanitation workers will descend on Beijing's Tiananmen Square and its surroundings from today for a huge campaign to spruce up the area ahead of the upcoming National Day celebrations and the Communist Party's once-in-a-decade change of power. Officials want the pavement to be "clean enough for people to sit on the ground" by the time the round-the-clock clean-up effort finishes on September 27.

Jakarta to choose its new governor

The governor of Indonesia's capital, Fauzi Bowo, faces his closest rival in a run-off vote after no candidate won a clear majority in the first round. Joko Widodo, the popular mayor of Solo city in Central Java province, won the July 11 vote with 42.6 per cent, while the incumbent polled 34.05 per cent, according to Jakarta's electoral commission.

Asia Society to discuss Myanmar reforms

Burton Levin, who was the US ambassador from 1987 to 1990 to what is now called Myanmar, will speak on the country's half-a-century military dictatorship during a dinner hosted by the Asia Society. Despite recent reforms and a nominally civilian government under President Thein Sein, the society says "how sustainable and how far-reaching Myanmar's movement towards a more open society really is, remains to be seen".

Festival opens for Pyongyang's film fans

An international film festival opens today in North Korea's capital. Held every two years, the Pyongyang International Film Festival is the only time North Koreans get to see a wide array of foreign films on the big screen. It is also the only time foreigners are allowed into North Korean movie theaters to see films alongside the locals.