HK is booming, financial secretary tells US forum
Hong Kong's economy was booming and the city had a much clearer role in the nation's development, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said in the United States.
Mr Tsang, speaking at the Weatherhead Policy Forum at Columbia University in New York, said that after the handover Hong Kong had fared well and had gained a firmer footing as a co-ordinator of global commerce and finance in Asia. He also said Beijing had been extremely supportive of Hong Kong's development after 1997, which had reinforced Hong Kong's role as a major city in China and as a global city in Asia.
Anthony Cheung urges stronger stance on minimum wage
Executive councillor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung yesterday urged the government to take a stronger stance on legislation for a minimum wage, despite opposition from the business sector.
Speaking during a forum on the policy address, he said there was more room for the government to alleviate poverty and that grass-roots criticisms of the policy address were understandable. He also said that whether another 'golden decade' for Hong Kong, envisaged by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in his policy blueprint, materialised depended on the progress of political reform. Universal suffrage should be introduced as soon as possible, otherwise the government would face increasing difficulty in obtaining public support when implementing various policies, Professor Cheung said.