Updates


May 13, 2016 (South China Morning Post) Editorial — Hong Kong’s credibility as an international finance centre depends more than ever on transparency of markets , a free flow of information and a level playing field. With closer links between Hong Kong and mainland markets and the city’s role as an offshore yuan centre, these remain things that not only set us apart, but are critical to the perception of Hong Kong as a...

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May 13, 2016 (South China Morning Post) — The Department of Justice has warned it will prosecute media outlets that run reports of bail negotiations and defendants’ criminal records, despite dropping charges against two local Chinese papers over an alleged contravention. It also made clear in a statement the importance of banning such reports to prevent prejudicing members of public who could be potential jurors. This came after...

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April 27, 2016 — Financial and political pressures from mainland China have gradually eroded Hong Kong’s historically free media over the past decade, according to Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press report. The trend has grown worse in tandem with deteriorating conditions on the mainland itself, where an already repressive environment for freedom of expression has become even more restrictive since President Xi Jinping took...

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April 27, 2016 (South China Morning Post), Oped by Glenville Cross — Although the Hong Kong National Party’s calls for independence have upset many people, the party is on a hiding to nothing. Hong Kong is an integral part of China, and this will not change. Beijing will never yield an inch of territory. In the early 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher’s government examined its 1997 options, it reportedly considered the possibility of...

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April 24, 2016 (South China Morning Post), Op-ed by Cliff Buddle — The unexpected emergence of a small but vocal independence movement in Hong Kong has sparked much consternation and condemnation. Some critics have gone further than merely expressing disapproval, calling for legal action to be taken against the young activists concerned. There have even been suggestions that new national security laws should be passed, in...

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April 24, 2016 (South China Morning Post) — Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen says the government is looking into whether advocates of Hong Kong independence broke any laws by setting up a party, after a mainland newspaper called for legal action. An article in the overseas edition of People’s Daily yesterday cited “legal personnel” as saying that formation of the party constituted incitement to sedition. “The Secretary of...

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