This is the 751st issue of One Day in Hong Kong
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > Chen Zeming was elected as the new president of the Law Society, Zhang Daming, suddenly resigned</h1>
The Hong Kong Bar Association held a board meeting today (31St) to elect a new president and vice president, and finally Chen Zeming was elected as the new president of the law society, and Lai Yaming, Tang Wenlong and Yu Guojian were elected as the vice presidents of the law society.
In a meeting with the media, Chan said that the Hong Kong Bar Association has an important role in Hong Kong society, the most important of which is to uphold the rule of law. All lawyers will protect the rule of law, a core value in Hong Kong. He pointed out that the bar will uphold professionalism, remain politically neutral and speak out from a legal perspective on social issues.
Chen Zeming pointed out that the state is actively promoting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and also held the first Greater Bay Area Lawyer Examination this year, allowing Hong Kong lawyers to practice in the Greater Bay Area after passing the examination. He said hong Kong plays an important role in the country's 14th Five-Year Plan and is an important arbitration centre in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chan also said that Hong Kong is the only common law city in the country, which is very important for Hong Kong's prosperity and will actively uphold Hong Kong's common law tradition; the law society will also strengthen ties with legal organizations in other places.
Chan has been a lawyer for 24 years, joining the Council of the Law Society in 2016, serving as Vice President in 2018, re-elected in 2019 and 2020, and then elected President in 2021. Chan sits on the six Standing Committees of the Law Society, is also the Founding Chairman of the Corporate Lawyers Committee and the Chairman of the Greater China Legal Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the Law Reform Committee of Hong Kong.
Just the day before, Zhang Tat Ming, the chief lecturer of HKU Law School who has long been in cahoots with the "opposition", suddenly announced his resignation as a director of the Hong Kong Bar Association, claiming that he "can focus on other aspects". The former President of the Law Society of Hong Kong, Pang Yun-chi, responded earlier today that he respected Cheung Tat Ming's decision and that according to the Bylaws of the Law Society, the Board of Directors has the right to fill the vacancies arising from the resignation of the Directors through the addition of directors for a term of office until the next Annual General Meeting.
The Bar Association held a general meeting of members earlier, re-elected 5 of the board seats, and all 5 candidates of the "professional faction" were elected. This is seen as a signal of the Return of the Law Society in Hong Kong from being too politically involved to a professional line. For Zhang Daming's resignation, the outside world believes that he may be dissatisfied with the results of the re-election of the lawyers' association and the possible direction of returning to the legal profession, or try to cut off his past political position as soon as possible in order to protect himself.
In July 2017, the Hong Kong SAR government announced the "one place, two inspections" plan for the West Kowloon Station of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway, which Zhang Daming was dissatisfied with.
At the end of January 2018, Chow Ting, the "Hong Kong independence" organization Demosisto Hong Kong, was determined to be invalid in his nomination for the Legislative Council by-election, and Cheung attacked the Election Officer who made the decision.
On November 18, 2019, Cheung Tat Ming entered the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to "show solidarity" with the "black rioters" who occupied the campus of PolyU.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="78" > Carrie Lam: The National Security Law is by no means a "toothless" policy and does not tolerate any organization to undermine Hong Kong's security</h1>
According to Hong Kong media reports, on August 25, the Hong Kong "Branch Federation" received a letter from the Hong Kong Police National Security Office, which pointed out that the police believed that the "Branch Association" was a "foreign agent" listed below the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the National Security Law on credible grounds, and requested the "Branch Federation" to provide the personal information of the organization's staff and affiliated members on or before September 7, disclose financial transactions with foreign institutions such as the National Endowment for Democracy in the United States since 2014, disclose the data, income expenditure, asset status of all activities in the past 8 years, and account for the "Branch Federation" "The reason why Vice Chairman Zou Xingtong collected a SUM of HK$3,000 this year.
According to the latest online poll of the Hong Kong media "Point News", as of August 31, 70.98% of the 9402 respondents who participated in the survey supported the dissolution of the "branch federation".
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Told the media before attending the Executive Council on August 31 that the national security law is by no means a "toothless" policy. If any organization wantsonly undermines Hong Kong's security and unites with foreign forces to endanger national security, the government will not tolerate it, and the police will strictly enforce the law. She said she had confidence in the Hong Kong police to enforce the law and believed that the Hong Kong police would enforce the law on the basis of tangible evidence.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="79" > Hong Kong Government: Hong Kong Resumes Customs Clearance with the Mainland No "Zero Clearance" Hard Indicator</h1>
On the same day, Carrie Lam also said that there is no so-called hard target timetable for the resumption of customs clearance between Hong Kong and the mainland, and there is no guidance such as "customs clearance can be cleared locally on the 28th". Due to institutional differences and the fact that the global epidemic has not yet stabilized, it is not possible to develop some common indicators at this stage to relax entry standards. She pointed out that the central government understands the demand of Hong Kong people to resume customs clearance, and the Hong Kong government will continue to work hard to do a good job in quarantine and epidemic prevention. As for the specific time to clear customs, it depends on the final development of the epidemic, and what Hong Kong really needs to do at present is to prevent imports from the outside world and increase the vaccination rate internally.
Carrie Lam said that the current vaccination rate of Hong Kong civil servants has reached 91%, and the number of doctors and nurses in public hospitals has reached 99% and 90% respectively. Carrie Lam called on highly mobile staff, students and the elderly to be vaccinated as soon as possible in the future. Among them, the vaccination rate of 12-19-year-old students in Hong Kong is about 50%, and Carrie Lam stressed that unless the overall vaccination rate of students is further improved, it will still not be possible to resume school in a short period of time, but she also said that face-to-face teaching is very important for students' growth and physical and mental health.
It is worth noting that Carrie Lam said that there is no plan to restrict the entry of unvaccinated people to certain places for the time being, but she said that if there is a new wave of the epidemic, it is not excluded to consider setting hard restrictions in some places, including schools, and it may be possible to judge whether students can participate in face-to-face classes by whether they are vaccinated.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="80" > Huo Qigang: Hong Kong is not a "cultural desert"</h1>
Fok Kai-gang, executive vice president of the Hong Kong Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said in his speech on August 31 on the "14th Five-Year Plan and New Opportunities for the Industry" that the state supports Hong Kong's development into a Chinese and foreign cultural and artistic exchange center, bringing new opportunities to Hong Kong and opportunities for Hong Kong's youth. Fok believes that at the crossroads of history, Hong Kong will provide more and more opportunities for young people in the future.
Huo Qigang pointed out that in the big environment, how to view the industry in the publishing industry is very important. He stressed the need to attach importance to the cultural value of the publishing industry and the value that the publishing industry can bring to society and education. In the past, publishing was seen as a business, but in addition to supporting the industry, it was also necessary to pay attention to the meaning behind it. He expressed the hope that the SAR Government will give the publishing industry more resources through different channels and give full play to the role of the publishing industry in promoting Chinese culture and publicizing national security education, so as to give the publishing industry a higher social status.
Fok Kai-gang said that in the future, the integration of Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area will surely become deeper and deeper, so there should be a better integration mechanism in terms of publishing to help Hong Kong publications circulate better in the mainland. The HKSAR Government can help the industry to better participate and enhance the development space of the publishing industry through favorable conditions such as tax incentives. He called on Hong Kong to join the state in demonstrating soft power through large-scale exhibitions and other activities, such as the International Book Fair. Huo Qigang firmly believes that Hong Kong is not a desert for cultural development, and the future can usher in a "publishing oasis".
In addition, Huo Qigang pointed out that young people in Hong Kong are full of creativity and hope that the industry will help and support them to build a platform for them to "go global" so as to better realize the output of soft power. At present, the National Arts Fund is located in Hong Kong, which helps to cultivate Hong Kong's cultural and artistic talents. Fok said that national identity is very important to the industry and can enhance Hong Kong people's understanding of the country. He suggested that under this opportunity, it is better to enhance exchanges between young people in Hong Kong and the mainland, so that young people in Hong Kong can feel a sense of participation, which will help Hong Kong better integrate into national development.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="81" > Hong Kong public housing rents rose 36% in 5 years</h1>
The Hong Kong Housing Authority released its latest statistics today (August 31) that there are currently 1.272 million public housing units in Hong Kong, while commercial housing has 164 units. According to the HA, the per capita living area of PRH tenants has continued to expand in recent years, from 137 sq ft (about 41 sq m) in 2011 to 141 sq ft (about 42 sq m) in 2016 and 145 sq ft (about 45 sq m) in 2021.
On the other hand, the data shows that as of the end of March 2021, the rent per square meter of public housing in Hong Kong increased by 36% compared with before 2016, while the average monthly rent of commercial housing units under 70 square meters increased by only 6.3% to 14.9%. However, in terms of absolute rent, the rent per square meter of commercial housing in 2021 will be between HK$261 and HK$401, while public housing will only need HK$66 to HK$74. In other words, the rent of commercial housing is 3.95 to 5.4 times that of public housing.
In addition, the HA pointed out that the number of applicants for public housing in Hong Kong is also increasing. As of the end of March 2021, about 153,000 general applicants were on standby, an increase of 64,000 or 71.9% from 89,000 10 years ago.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="82" > the first "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Shopping Festival" opened on September 2</h1>
The inaugural Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Shopping Festival will be held from 2 to 22 September, with more than 13 million items from 298,000 well-known brands. Consumers can enjoy a number of preferential policies in the "Greater Bay Area Shopping Festival" special area of the relevant e-commerce platform. Join forces to create a high-profile shopping festival
The shopping festival was hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China of Hong Kong, the Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the People's Republic of China, the Liaison Office of Macao, the Department of Publicity and Culture of the Hong Kong Central Liaison Office, the Propaganda Department of the Central Liaison Office of macao, the Program Center of the Movie Channel, and the General Manager's Office of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, and was hosted by Alibaba Group, Phoenix Satellite TV, 1905 Movie Network, and Southern Metropolis Daily.
As a dynamic world-class city cluster, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is an international science and technology innovation center with global influence, an important support for the construction of the "Belt and Road", a demonstration area for in-depth cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and a high-quality living circle suitable for living and working.
Hong Kong, Macao and the nine mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta have their own characteristics and bring together many outstanding Chinese enterprises and national brands. During the first "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Shopping Festival", more than 100 industrial belts, 298,000 well-known brands and more than 13 million goods in the Greater Bay Area, including food, beauty, digital, home appliances, personal care, home furnishing, clothing, etc., will be unveiled at the shopping festival, among which carefully selected a wide range of Hong Kong and Macao products with a large number of hong Kong and Macao products to choose from, which is the highlight of this shopping festival.