https://www.scmp.com/rss/322114/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Davos at the World Economic Forum, George Soros declared that a hard landing of the Chinese economy was “almost unavoidable”, and that he has shorted US stocks and Asian currencies. This statement amounted to a formal declaration of war with China. The sharp fall in offshore renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar recently should be regarded as skirmishes. Soros was aware that the deciding factor of his final battle lay in a general evaluation of China’s economic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1908113/ignore-george-soros-prophecy-doom-china-has-its-economic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1908113/ignore-george-soros-prophecy-doom-china-has-its-economic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Feb 2016 09:01:25 +0000 With the anti-national education campaign on a rampage and half of the new government busy defending the curriculum, any objective observer will easily come to the conclusion that launching national education in Hong Kong schools is a fool's errand. It would be like employing Muslims to teach the Bible in an Islamic country with the objective of enabling the students to view Christianity critically. No Christian could be converted this way, if, from primary one, children were taught that they... https://www.scmp.com/article/1008417/hong-kong-courts-disaster-culture-opposition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1008417/hong-kong-courts-disaster-culture-opposition?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Like many other fellow post-war babies, the Diaoyu Islands is an issue close to my heart. When the Defend Diaoyu Islands campaign first started in the early 1970s, I was teaching in the University of Hong Kong and was not directly involved in this student movement, but it hurt me knowing that some of my students were badly beaten up by the police during the demonstrations. Just before the handover, one of my students, Chan Yuk-cheung, drowned while swimming ashore one of the Diaoyu... https://www.scmp.com/article/1007272/diaoyu-archipelago-no-place-patriot-games?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1007272/diaoyu-archipelago-no-place-patriot-games?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Leo Goodstadt, the head of the Central Policy Unit before the handover, has talked about the colonial administration facing the 'constant menace that Hong Kong would become ungovernable' in the final period of its rule due to its weakened authority. Clearly, during the last leg of its term, the former administration of Donald Tsang Yam-kuen faced a similar situation, for similar reasons. And new Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has seen his government restructuring proposal undermined in the... https://www.scmp.com/article/1005637/continuing-unrest-could-see-article-23-shelved-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1005637/continuing-unrest-could-see-article-23-shelved-again?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000 There has been a general breakdown of moral ethics in political behaviour in Hong Kong, and the situation is deteriorating quickly. It began with the collapse of mutual trust. Nothing is secret, as no pledge or understanding is sacred - starting with the Executive Council's stringent code of confidentiality. Private phone conversations are liable to be leaked to the public, and off-the-record and anonymous comments are published with clear attributions. The 'big mouth' is the hero for... https://www.scmp.com/article/1004651/sharing-secrets-and-courting-media-simply-irresponsible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1004651/sharing-secrets-and-courting-media-simply-irresponsible?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Will he or won't he step down from the position of chief executive during the last month of his term? That is the question on many people's mind about Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's fate, which will probably be decided in the middle of this month when he is scheduled to have his last question-and-answer session with the Legislative Council. Tsang's voluntary resignation is probably wishful thinking on the part of the politicians who had tried to score points with the public by humiliating this lame... https://www.scmp.com/article/1003338/let-tsang-finish-his-term-then-conduct-proper-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1003338/let-tsang-finish-his-term-then-conduct-proper-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 In the Western mindset, filibustering is procedurally correct and therefore lawful. This is based on several thousand years of blind belief that law is ultimately traced to God, and therefore rules should be obeyed and abided by. China, however, is a godless country, and multiple deities provide ethical role models. Laws are judged by whether they are consistent with common sense and are workable. Legality has no overriding authority, and in fact most Chinese think that rules should be... https://www.scmp.com/article/1001911/hong-kong-needs-time-out-self-serving-legislators?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1001911/hong-kong-needs-time-out-self-serving-legislators?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Let's put it plainly: there are some among us who still refuse to accept the result of the chief executive election and hold an antagonistic attitude towards Leung Chun-ying. This is partly because they do not accept what they deem to be an undemocratic, small-circle election, and partly because they do not like Leung. This is unfortunate, as such an attitude is not conducive to democratic development. Through a commonly accepted process, a political leader is elected. Hong Kong's constitutional... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000664/sore-losers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000664/sore-losers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Bo Xilai probe is continuing. The whole saga is a disgrace both internationally and within the country. How could something like this happen in the first place, and how could it have been handled like that in this age? Even at this juncture, I can safely predict that the one that will suffer the most damage in the end is the Chinese Communist Party. The authorities want to portray this as a simple murder arising from commercial conflicts between Bo's wife and Neil Heywood. But that doesn't... https://www.scmp.com/article/999371/beijing-must-come-clean-bo-scandal-regain-standing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/999371/beijing-must-come-clean-bo-scandal-regain-standing?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 After the crazy chief executive debate, our society is gradually being restored to rationality. Now that Leung Chun-ying is the chief executive-designate, what does that mean for Hong Kong in the next five years? Some of Leung's opponents have made a big fuss about how he might destroy Hong Kong's core values. This claim is counter-intuitive - if values are so vulnerable, how can they be 'core values'? The core values of any place on earth are the result of many years of accumulation and are... https://www.scmp.com/article/998119/opponents-crying-wolf-over-leungs-threat-core-values?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998119/opponents-crying-wolf-over-leungs-threat-core-values?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Faithful followers of this column will note that all my predictions about the chief executive election have come true. That's quite a remarkable feat, if I may say so, given the extraordinary twists and turns that have taken place. In fairy tales and cartoons, good invariably triumphs over evil. But, in the real world, the heroes may not live happily ever after. Chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying won the fiercely contested battle, which featured daily attacks on his integrity and an... https://www.scmp.com/article/997052/leungs-wind-change-can-stifle-hollow-howls-critics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/997052/leungs-wind-change-can-stifle-hollow-howls-critics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 When lawmaker and Election Committee member Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung declared on an RTHK talk show that should an inexperienced candidate (which presumably means Leung Chun-ying as Lam is a staunch supporter of Henry Tang Ying-yen) get elected as Hong Kong's next chief executive, capital could flee the city, I could not help but chuckle. Here we go again - threats of a capital exodus to bring Hong Kong citizens and the central government to their knees. This looked like a rerun of a failed strategy... https://www.scmp.com/article/995606/tycoons-exit-would-just-leave-more-room-rest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/995606/tycoons-exit-would-just-leave-more-room-rest?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Political scandals in this city have finally reached the very top. The recent expose of dealings between Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and some business tycoons have left many citizens gasping. To a lot of people, the term 'government-business collusion' was previously just a feeling, a suspicion, a conspiracy theory - and perhaps very few actually believed it to be true. These stories now at least serve as prima facie evidence; Tsang has been caught with his pants down. At the time... https://www.scmp.com/article/994217/sway-big-business-reaches-right-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/994217/sway-big-business-reaches-right-top?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 To quote a recent popular saying: 'This city is dying.' I think quite a lot of people in Hong Kong will agree with me that the University of Hong Kong is dying along with it. Its centenary celebration last August turned out to be a big mess which led to an internal investigation. The subsequent report admitted to the mess and faulted the university for administrative blunders. Now, those supposedly responsible have resigned - behaviour typical of a dying establishment. In what kind of a... https://www.scmp.com/article/992867/no-moral-compass-hku-will-lose-its-way?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/992867/no-moral-compass-hku-will-lose-its-way?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 In a speech just months before the handover in 1997, Tung Chee-hwa declared with unbounded optimism: 'What is good for Hong Kong is good for China, and what is good for China is very good for Hong Kong.' Like many of us, he saw Hong Kong joining the motherland as a win-win situation. Mostly it has been, and Hong Kong has gained a lot in the past 15 years. But that has not made everybody happy, and when it turns out that a prospering country has meant chipping away at the welfare of some of us... https://www.scmp.com/article/991565/blame-negligent-officials-not-mainland-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/991565/blame-negligent-officials-not-mainland-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 National identity has never been a problem among people my age, the so-called post-war babies. I was born Chinese, I am Chinese. No alternative has ever crossed my mind. But then, probably around the late 1970s, we suddenly found that, in our identity cards, we were labelled British. That came with a British passport for easy travelling, and if you insisted you were Chinese, you got something else that was extremely inconvenient - a certificate of identity that was not recognised elsewhere. As... https://www.scmp.com/article/990619/beware-pull-identity-politics-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990619/beware-pull-identity-politics-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 According to WikiLeaks, one of the articles I wrote for this page got a mention in a cable from the US consulate in Hong Kong to Washington. The article was published in October 2009, when, like today, Guangdong was suffering a severe drought. In view of the fact that Hong Kong had more than enough water stored to last until the following rainy season, I suggested that the Hong Kong government play the role of a good neighbour by asking the Guangdong authorities to temporarily stop their... https://www.scmp.com/article/989361/first-steps-towards-more-sustainable-water-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/989361/first-steps-towards-more-sustainable-water-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The race for the chief executive post has shifted into a higher gear following the election of the members for the Election Committee. The big surprise of late came from lawmaker and former chairman of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, Frederick Fung Kin-kee, who announced this month that he would also join the race. As pro-democracy supporters managed only to win some 200 seats on the committee - enough to nominate one candidate - it has precipitated a split between... https://www.scmp.com/article/988489/no-brainer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/988489/no-brainer?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Heung Yee Kuk, which represents the interests of indigenous inhabitants in the New Territories, recently staged a confrontation with the government on the issue of illegal structures. As I have said before, I am all for a negotiated settlement. The problem has become too prevalent to tackle, and so the government should not enforce the demolition of all illegal structures built before a certain date, as long as they are structurally sound and will not cause any public safety hazard. After... https://www.scmp.com/article/987268/compromise-illegal-structures-best-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/987268/compromise-illegal-structures-best-all?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Earlier this year, I outlined here my forecast of events leading up to the chief executive election next March. So far, things have happened pretty much according to script. I said candidates would declare their candidacy only after the formation of the 1,200-member Election Committee and, before that, 'there will be a few people declaring that they will drop out, to clear the path to battle for others'. As things have turned out, former Legislative Council president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai ... https://www.scmp.com/article/985868/dont-look-beijing-pick-hong-kongs-next-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/985868/dont-look-beijing-pick-hong-kongs-next-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Despite the relatively high turnout and a clear victory for the pro-establishment camp, last Sunday's district council elections appeared pretty lacklustre on the surface. But, looking deeper at the results, the signs are not good for our pro-democracy politicians. They obviously felt the heat. And, though some found an easy scapegoat in the central government's liaison office, they failed to substantiate their claims. Failing to learn from this defeat will lead them right into another... https://www.scmp.com/article/984511/pan-democrats-road-defeat-paved-blunders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/984511/pan-democrats-road-defeat-paved-blunders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The revelation of media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's secret contributions to local democrats has shocked the city. The most troublesome appear to be the gifts to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (HK$20 million) and Anson Chan Fang On-sang (HK$1.3 million). His reported donations of more than HK$13.5 million to the Democratic Party from 2006 to last year and over HK$14.5 million to the Civic Party for the same period further demonstrate his anti-China, anti-Hong-Kong-government zeal. Even in a... https://www.scmp.com/article/983149/no-strings-attached-pull-other-one?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/983149/no-strings-attached-pull-other-one?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 By the time the district council election nominations closed two weeks ago, we could safely predict that the pro-democracy camp would lose a few seats in the elections. On the surface, the reason appears simple: there is too much competition within the dissident camp. In the good old days, when the Democratic Party was acknowledged as leader of the camp, it set the rules for other members to obey. The rules seemed fair: don't challenge the incumbents within the pan-democratic camp. Instead, ... https://www.scmp.com/article/981859/legco-seats-next-year-real-prize-radical-parties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/981859/legco-seats-next-year-real-prize-radical-parties?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 If you believed the pundits and world-class financial analysts a few months ago, China was caught in 'the biggest financial bubble in history' and was heading towards a painful hard landing. But, after a while (and probably after somebody somewhere made a killing and somebody else lost their shirt), its economic crisis mysteriously disappeared. Taken with the recent publication of the speeches of former premier Zhu Rongji, I was reminded of the equally mysterious disappearance of billions... https://www.scmp.com/article/980547/china-could-show-europe-way-out-debt-trap?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/980547/china-could-show-europe-way-out-debt-trap?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The recent release of nearly 1,000 cable dispatches from the US consulate in Hong Kong by WikiLeaks is quite an eye-opener. They covered topics and events both big and small. Going through some of these cables, the information is on the whole not any more revealing than most reports in any newspaper. Surely the hundreds of employees in what is purportedly one of the largest American overseas consular outposts must have more worthwhile endeavours than writing such humdrum dispatches.... https://www.scmp.com/article/979187/decoding-message-americas-humdrum-cables?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/979187/decoding-message-americas-humdrum-cables?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 I have been a member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Basic Law Committee since 2006, and the recent interpretation of the Basic Law in the Congo 'state immunity' case was my first experience of participating in this important task. The committee followed the case from the beginning because it directly relates to foreign affairs, which is outside the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts, according to the Basic Law. One way or another, the courts had to refer it to the... https://www.scmp.com/article/977874/wrong-see-interpretation-basic-law-interference?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/977874/wrong-see-interpretation-basic-law-interference?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Victoria Park in Causeway Bay is one of my favourite places to take a stroll. On Sundays, the whole park is full of Indonesian migrant workers. In the evening, after they have returned home, the park is full of rubbish. Yet, through the years, no one has complained. A similar situation occurs in Central, where the perimeters of all A-grade office buildings are taken up by Filipino workers. Instead of driving them away, we cordon off a section of one thoroughfare for pedestrians, just to... https://www.scmp.com/article/976577/abode-claim-unfairly-puts-hongkongers-bad-light?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/976577/abode-claim-unfairly-puts-hongkongers-bad-light?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000 As a member of the Basic Law Committee, I can only stay silent on the judicial reviews sought by Filipino domestic helpers on the right of abode issue and on whether another interpretation of Hong Kong's mini-constitution may be necessary. But I am free to comment on another side of the issue: that is, why are we discriminating against our own people? A few years ago, I debated with 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung on a radio talk show about why he was not given a permit to go to the... https://www.scmp.com/article/975428/cross-border-neighbours-deserve-warm-welcome?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/975428/cross-border-neighbours-deserve-warm-welcome?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000 My hat off to our Police Commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung. Among our top government officials he quickly stands out in his very short tenure as one who knows exactly what he is doing and executes his clearly defined objectives with professionalism, guts and determination. He deserves public support, as our safety and law and order depend on him. I know a young man who has aspired to be a policeman since he was a child. Now an auxiliary policeman, he became thoroughly demoralised after... https://www.scmp.com/article/974161/hong-kong-police-need-not-apologise-doing-their-job?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/974161/hong-kong-police-need-not-apologise-doing-their-job?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000 I watched with great amazement last Sunday's City Forum programme when made-in-Hong-Kong China expert Johnny Lau Yui-siu asserted to his audience that the recent People's Liberation Army anti-terrorism exercise in Hong Kong was targeted at the July 1 rally. He said it with such conviction and emotion, biting his lips and grinding his teeth, and the floor responded so favourably, that I could not help but shudder. According to this fairy tale, our dissident 'terrorists' are so powerful that... https://www.scmp.com/article/972898/july-1-marchers-wrong-route-radical-action?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/972898/july-1-marchers-wrong-route-radical-action?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000 It is safe to assert that there have never been so many warships - Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine and even American - converging in the South China Sea than at this moment. Tension is running high with weekly protest rallies in Hanoi demanding apologies and compensation from China, and the Vietnamese government issuing a decree that spells out who will be exempted from conscription in the event of war. The Philippines also joined the party with its ageing flagship dispatched to the... https://www.scmp.com/article/971573/unwise-asean-states-make-enemy-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/971573/unwise-asean-states-make-enemy-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Despite the huge public relations campaign befitting a project estimated to cost a hefty HK$136 billion, by far the largest in Hong Kong's history, my minority view is that building a third runway is neither urgent, nor necessary. If official projections are correct, our current airport facilities will reach full capacity in 2020. According to the official story, it will be at least a decade before the new runway can be ready for use. The conclusion officials would like us to reach is that we... https://www.scmp.com/article/970191/collaboration-airports-delta-region-way-go?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/970191/collaboration-airports-delta-region-way-go?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong people are not as politically naive as some pundits might suggest; they are just lazy and will swallow whatever is fed to them. In fact, it is the pundits' responsibility to provide them with wholesome analysis instead of mindlessly repeating some common misconceptions. Take the views on the upcoming chief executive election. The most popular talk in town seems to be who the likely candidates are and who will win out in the end. Much of the speculation is based on opinion polls,... https://www.scmp.com/article/968874/speculation-over-next-chief-executive-meaningless?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/968874/speculation-over-next-chief-executive-meaningless?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The death of Osama bin Laden earned a lot of cheers in the US, but it raised a few eyebrows here. A T-shirt proclamation I saw among the jubilant American crowd said it all: 'Obama killed Osama.' It is that simple; a cold-blooded assassination, an act of revenge with a disregard for religious and political conventions. This is worrying now that China has officially been labelled America's 'chief competitor', given that the difference between the chief competitor and the arch-rival in many... https://www.scmp.com/article/967559/we-all-have-right-run-our-own-lives?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/967559/we-all-have-right-run-our-own-lives?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The judicial review of the government's environmental impact assessment for the planned Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge is an interesting case. A closer examination will reveal the total farce now existing in our city and the emergence of a new monster. This is a clear case of using a poor old woman, a benefactor of the CSSA scheme, to apply for legal aid to sue the government for a political cause. I think this is a perfectly legitimate way to use public money to further one's political... https://www.scmp.com/article/966362/public-big-loser-wrangle-over-bridge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/966362/public-big-loser-wrangle-over-bridge?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Faced with, on one hand, the destiny of mankind's near certain death in the not-too-distant future if we continue to use conventional methods to generate energy, and on the other the possibility that some people may die in accidents if we build more nuclear plants, common sense tells us we must switch to the nuclear alternative, then try hard to improve our odds of reducing accidents. The sad thing is that common sense does not always prevail. For most Hong Kong citizens, this difficult... https://www.scmp.com/article/965132/return-irrational-fears-about-nuclear-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/965132/return-irrational-fears-about-nuclear-power?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:00:00 +0000 I am all for minimum wage legislation that provides a bottom line for the income of the working poor - without it, I am afraid more people would just give up working and opt for public assistance. Then the burden of social security would ultimately fall on the shoulders of you and me in terms of higher levies and taxation. This simple objective requires clear and simple procedures that both employers and employees can easily understand, and it should all involve minimal administration. But if... https://www.scmp.com/article/963842/keep-basic-wage-rules-absolute-minimum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/963842/keep-basic-wage-rules-absolute-minimum?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000