This is the 800th issue of One Day in Hong Kong
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="58" > The new era of administrative officials must be transformed Civil servants need to support the government</h1>
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor released her last Policy Address earlier in office, which requested the Secretary for Civil Service to review the current mechanism for the selection and appointment of senior civil service posts in the coming months in accordance with the principle of "those who can live in the right place".
When the Secretary for Civil Service Affairs Nie Tak-kuen attended the Legislative Council Committee meeting today (19 July), he was asked whether he would be worried about reducing the number of civil servants who applied for the examination as the National Security Law was included in the entry examination requirements.
Ip Lau Suk-yee, chairman of the New People's Party who is a political official, said that in recent years, civil servants have been criticized for believing that administrative officials should be the leading class of the government, but they feel that they are "not patriotic enough", inactive, and unprofitable, such as not cleaning up the "Lennon Wall" during the storm over the amendment. She pointed out that this culture of administrative officers stems from historical reasons, because in the past, the British government of Hong Kong only trained administrative officials as "executors" and did not train administrative officials to become "leaders".
Ye Liu also pointed out that it is not a bad thing for more people to resign as civil servants and not sign a statement, bluntly saying: "If you do not accept the new system and new culture, you will not be able to do well." She believes that the government should clarify what requirements are required of administrative officers and department heads, and if administrative officials do not like the new requirements, they should resign, and that Nie Dequan should lead the civil service system, saying to herself, "I have transformed, everyone can transform." ”
Nie Dequan said that he fully agreed with Ye Liu's remarks and believed that it is necessary to squarely face up to the background and reasons that constitute the culture of civil servants today. He believes that in the past, based on political, social and institutional factors, when many civil servants introduced new policies, they had already thought about how to "play the defensive wave (ball)", because they were thinking about how to be "rabbled" by the parliament, how the society opposed it, whether anyone would mention judicial review, and be labeled as "collusion between officials and businessmen", etc. But he believed that after the implementation of the National Security Law and the patriots governing Hong Kong, civil servants could be more active and proactive in solving problems.
Nie Dequan also mentioned the "political neutrality" controversy, pointing out that the term "political neutrality" caused many misunderstandings, emphasizing that the government had clarified it during the oath of office of civil servants, and clearly pointed out that to join a civil servant, it is necessary to fully and loyally support the chief executive and the government's governance, and there is no situation of "not helping the government" and "not helping the family".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > 5 Hong Kong university riots and other crimes sentenced to 4 years, 9 months to 4 years and 11 months</h1>
In November 2019, rioters illegally occupied the University of Chinese in Hong Kong, paralyzing traffic by throwing a large amount of debris off the bridge across the Tolo Harbour Highway and the MTR East Rail Link. Five arrested CUFCs were convicted of rioting and violating the Face Mask Prohibition Law, and District Court Provisional Judge Zhang Jieyi sentenced five people to prison for 4 years, 9 months to 4 years and 11 months today (19 April). Zhang Jieyi said that after considering factors such as the scale of the riot, it must be sentenced to deterrent punishment.
The five defendants are Liu Jinxu, 21, Fu Kaiqing, 21, Gao Zibin, 21, Chen Lishi, 18, and Xu Yizhao, 20. Among them, Fu Kaiqing was sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in prison; Liu Jinxu, Gao Zibin, Chen Lishi and Xu Yizhao were sentenced to 4 years and 9 months.
When pleading today, the defense pointed out that After the incident, Liu Jinxu had the idea of taking a life and needed to undergo psychiatric treatment. Gao Zibin hopes to open a nursing home for the elderly in the future, but this case has dashed his wishes. Chen Lishi originally had excellent grades, but after the incident, he suffered from major depressive disorder, and his grades plummeted, so that he needed to apply to the university for suspension. Xu Yizhen has been dragged down by this case since graduating from CUHK and has not been able to successfully find employment so far.
Among them, the heaviest sentence, Fu Kaiqing, studied in the Nursing Department of CUHK, and because this case made it difficult for her to complete her nurse internship, she was about to lose her degree. But Fu still did not repent, criticizing the court for only superficially paying attention to social order, never going deep into the causes of social tearing, dissatisfied with the judge's ruling, and "no longer trusting the Hong Kong judiciary". If the court finds that the re-sentencing will cause her to reflect and regret, "do as she pleases".
Judge Zhang Jieyi pointed out that the five defendants appeared in dark clothes and masks to reflect their intention to participate in or encourage others to participate in the riots; when Fu Kaiqing and Xu Yizhao were arrested, they searched for demonstration tools, reflecting that they were "prepared". During the 2-minute onslaught, demonstrators threw five petrol bombs at the police, causing smoke and flames to burn, as if the prosecution referred to as a "battlefield".
The judge stressed that the petrol bomb will inevitably cause damage to the environment at the scene, and the court should not ignore the risk posed by the petrol bomb to the safety of the people at the scene. Although criminal liability affects the education and future of the defendants, they must be held accountable for their own actions, and the court must give young people a slap in the face, otherwise it will cost society dearly.
It is worth mentioning that the Council of Students' Union of the University of Chinese hong Kong announced its dissolution the day before (October 18), and all members of the "Cabinet" resigned. The officer issued a statement on social media saying that after the student council, the university began to ask the college student union to register independently, and under the "no other choice", announced the resignation of all members of the "cabinet" and dissolved the union college student union board. The statement blamed the dissolution decision on the so-called "school coercion of independent registration", and many netizens expressed their confusion and asked why they should worry about following the right path to registration if the organization itself obeys the law.
Previously, on October 7, the CUHK Student Union announced its dissolution. The Students' Union said that since February, the university announced that it would stop collecting the student union dues and required the student union to register independently with the government, and after soliciting professional legal advice, the student union held a joint meeting on September 10 to accept the resignation of all representatives of the student union and the dissolution of the student council.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > Huo Zhenting: Strive to hold the opening ceremony of the National Games in Hong Kong</h1>
Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will host the 15th National Games in 2025, and Fok Chun-ting, President of the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee, said today (19th) that he hopes that Hong Kong can win the right to host more events, and the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee will also strive to hold an opening ceremony in Hong Kong.
Huo Zhenting said that after the Olympic Hong Kong team achieved good results, the public's attention to sports has increased. The HkSAR Association and the Olympic Committee will also discuss with Ocean Park whether it can jointly organize more activities in the future to increase the knowledge of young people in sports. Regarding the establishment of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau proposed in the Policy Address, Fok Chun Ting said that Hong Kong has always paid more attention to financial aspects in the past, and since the epidemic, the public has paid more attention to health, and the Hong Kong Association and the Olympic Committee will take this opportunity to discuss with the government how to support athletes more.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="60" > "Cross-border Wealth Management Connect" opened 19 Hong Kong banks to trade</h1>
The Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect service was launched on the 19th, allowing retail investors in Hong Kong and the Mainland to buy and sell wealth management products in each other's markets, marking a new stage in the development of connectivity.
Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect allows residents of nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong and Macau to invest in eligible wealth management products in another market through designated investment, and the initial stage mainly covers low to medium risk, relatively simple wealth management products. Participating investors are required to open a special remittance account and a special investment account at the bank of the local area and another market, respectively, and the two accounts are paired with each other to implement closed-loop and quota management with RMB cross-border funds.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced that 19 Hong Kong banks have been approved to conduct business, of which 16 provide both "Southbound Connect" and "Northbound Connect" services. A number of banks, including BOCHK, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK (Asia), are ready to offer over 100 eligible wealth management products such as hybrid funds, bond funds and money market funds. If Hong Kong people participate in the "Wealth Management Connect", they must first open an exclusive bank account, and if they do not have a bank account in the Mainland, they must personally go to the Mainland to handle it.
For Bay Area residents, the "cross-border wealth management connect" is actually the allocation of global assets in the south and the sharing of the mainland dividend in the north. Of course, through channels such as QDII/QFII, Equity Connect, Mutual Recognition of Funds and Bond Connect led by institutional investors, individual customers in the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao can also allocate cross-border assets. However, the "Cross-Border Wealth Management Pass" directly allows individual investors to open and operate investment accounts across borders – which means that capital accounts are widely opened.
The "Cross-border Wealth Management Connect" connects the investment needs of tens of millions of residents in China's richest urban agglomeration (the total population of the Greater Bay Area exceeds 86 million, and the per capita GDP exceeds US$19,000). According to a report jointly released by Deloitte and CPA Australia, there are more than 450,000 households in the Greater Bay Area with more than 6 million yuan of investable assets, with a total of 2.7 trillion yuan of total investable assets.