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SCMP Reporter

Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen has challenged opponents of his proposed goods and services tax to come up with  other ways to broaden the revenue base.  Philip Bowring's proposal for an energy tax ('Fiddling while Hong Kong pollutes', November 20), is an insightful and excellent alternative. It will force the major polluters, who are generally wealthy,  to bear the consequences of their behaviour in mind.

An energy tax sends a clear message:  not only do you have to pay for the use of energy, you have to pay for the consequences this use inflicts on others.

Revenue from the  tax could be used to subsidise the medical bills of people who suffer from asthma and other respiratory problems caused by air pollution.

Hong Kong people take money very seriously. An energy tax would seem to be the most direct and efficient way to change their bad habits when it comes to energy consumption.

JUSTIN CHAN CHI-MAN, Tung Chung

Cool conditions

I have a simple solution with which the government could, at a stroke, cut locally produced air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions: ban the use of air conditioning when the temperature is below 25.5 degrees Celsius.

During these warm but comfortable autumn days, haven't we all seen thousands of people walking round in jumpers and jackets, probably because they  fear  having to go into some refrigerated  building?

In money-mad Hong Kong, it baffles me why big companies are so willing to throw away money on unnecessarily high  electricity bills. Perhaps people have just fallen into silly habits and are waiting for some leadership to get them out.

So come on, government, think of all that lovely fresh air and all the extra revenue you could make in new fines.

WARREN RUSSELL, Tseung Kwan O

All you need is guts

Though I agree to a degree with Chris Stubbs that we would suffer serious pollution even if we spent HK$51 billion on cleaning up Hong Kong ('HK$51b down the drain', November 21), finding a solution begins here.

Although the government has had the courage to stand up to the entertainment and tobacco industries and ban  smoking  in enclosed spaces, the real question is does it have the  guts to go head to head with real big business? With the recent granting of an extension to the bus companies' franchises  and emissions caps for the power companies that were  nothing short of a gift, it is  clear that the Tsang administration is  not working in the interests of the Hong Kong people.

There is no excuse for these concessions. CLP Power's television adverts depicting clean air and an enjoyable environment (the dream of all Hongkongers) are a disgrace. They tell the public that CLP Power is somehow part of this future when it is  a major part of the problem.

It may be true that most  pollution comes from the Pearl River Delta, but if we don't clean up our act at home, how can we  blame others?  We need legislation now to reduce pollution. It's not that difficult. Hong Kong is a small city. It just requires some guts.  When are we going to get started? Before everyone who values their health has fled to greener lands, I hope. If it gets much worse, I'll be one of them.

JOHN ARNOLD, Lamma

Wages of ill-health

An extensive study by two academics  published in the journal Social Science and Medicine concludes that health is generally poorer in societies where differences in income are larger.  Poor health in the workforce means more costs and more lost time.

This indicates that a minimum wage is not just a moral issue but one of sound economic sense. Maybe this is why most developed countries have already adopted it.

ERIC SPAIN, Lantau

Restore fair balance

As a group of Hong Kong manufacturers and exporters who rely, to a large extent,  on the well-established local exhibitions to promote our products and expand our markets, we would like to express our disappointment at   recent chaotic and unregulated developments in the exhibition sector.

For decades, Hong Kong's export of  light products - including toys, gifts,  houseware and textiles - has thrived on two prime-time sourcing seasons among international buyers, in April and October. Throughout these years, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council  and Kenfair International have worked well together to host  two perfectly timed, major trade shows at the  Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in these months.

The balance was upset this April, however, when a  trade fair with a similar theme and product categories debuted at the newly launched AsiaWorld-Expo at almost the same time. It happened again in October, and we felt, for the  second time,  the  damaging impact.

Being small and medium-size enterprises  (SMEs) with limited resources, we  face a dilemma of joining both shows, at double the operational cost, or  sticking to  one, at the risk of  losing business. Those of us who manage to  take part in both shows still suffer - from lessened time to meet buyers.

The buyers have also expressed their frustration and confusion.  Some mistook the new shows for extensions of the original fairs, while many  complained they had ended up at the wrong fairs after unwittingly catching the wrong buses from their hotels.

We believe the government is duty- bound to resolve this chaotic  situation. It is absurd that the concerned department failed to foresee the  repercussions of overlapping trade events  at the two venues.  Moreover, it is  unreasonable of AsiaWorld-Expo's  management  to approve  exhibitions that clash with the existing fairs. The newly built venue is supposed to  cater for new shows and offer more business opportunities, with new themes and product categories. Instead, new shows repeating established themes  siphon buyers from the old fairs -  causing confusion and stripping the buyers of precious time to source products and negotiate with exhibitors. Worse, the SMEs of Hong Kong suffer.

We  urge the government and the industry   to act promptly to rectify the situation and to restore a  healthier business environment for SMEs, the backbone of Hong Kong's economy.

SUNNY CHEUNG, member, The Hong Kong Exporters' Association

Privilege in numbers

It would seem from Clive Howard's letter 'Early birds catch the Sixes' (November 21) that the key to getting prime seats at the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes  is not so much what time one arrives or when one books but, rather, in what numbers. The chairman of the Hong Kong Cricket Association  tries to conflate the plight of ticket holders who were told to move once inside the public area with that of non-ticket holders, who had the misfortune to be excluded altogether.

The reserving of seats in the public area was not available to individuals or small groups of ticket buyers.  The only reason I can think of why this group of 400 might have been afforded this privilege (and signs made up for them, accordingly) is their number - unless they also happen to be acquainted with one  of Hong Kong's cricket institutions? Did they, I wonder, pay more for this preferential treatment than those holders of equally valid tickets who were moved on their behalf?

NICHOLAS MILNES, Sheung Wan

No role for Nato

In his Insight piece 'Why the EU must act on Afghanistan' (November 21), former US ambassador to Nato Robert Hunter writes that the alliance has  bet its future on success in Afghanistan. He hopes the European Union will make good Nato's shortcomings in the US-led occupation of Afghanistan.

That hope is in vain. Nato forces face inevitable defeat in Afghanistan, just as did the Soviet Union and the British empire in former times.

In hoping that the EU will shore up Nato so that it may continue as a vehicle for imposing US rule in Afghanistan (and elsewhere), Mr Hunter, like so many Americans,  fails to understand events in Europe in 1989. That year did not see merely the collapse of a communist system or the reunification of Germany, but the fall of  the Russian empire. Upon its collapse,  the real risk of  further war between European states died.

In consequence, Nato, the sole purpose of which was to prevent hostilities breaking out between the two halves of Europe during the cold war, became obsolete. Only Americans now try hard to keep Nato alive as a means for the US to dominate European foreign and defence policy and to pressure Europe to accept the US' scheme of world domination.

Most Europeans know this. They see that the US is now  the  greatest threat to peace, justice and security in Europe and the wider world. They see that Europe needs new security arrangements that include  Russia and exclude the US.

Having rid themselves of their own empires, people from Moscow to Madrid are not so stupid as to become cogs in America's imperial machine.

MAURICE PETER TRACY, Central



Energy tax offers HK an excellent alternative to GST