Remarks by SJ at media session (with video)
Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at a media session at the "Rule of Law: The Best Business Environment" under Hong Kong Legal Week 2024 today (November 8):
Reporter: How effective is incorporating a new mediation clause into government contracts? What additional resources are needed and how much time or money does it actually save? And what sort of government contracts will it benefit the most?
Secretary for Justice: It would be a general policy that in the future, all government contracts will contain a mediation clause. The fact is that in case any dispute arises, the Government will try to resolve those disputes by mediation first, and only if mediation fails may we resort to litigation, arbitration or other means of dispute resolution. I am very confident that if people are willing to use more mediation to resolve disputes, that will certainly save time and cost, because I am speaking from experience.
The importance of this policy is to show to people that the Government is willing to take the lead in the hope that we can cultivate the culture in society as a whole. So whenever people encounter disputes, the first thing that they would consider is not to go to court, but instead to try to resolve disputes by mediation, by a means which in our belief is more economical, more time-saving, and resulting in a more harmonious result. So I think that is my answer to your question.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
An unseasonably mild December
With the northeast monsoon over southern China generally weaker than normal for most of the time in the month, December 2025 was much warmer than usual in Hong Kong. The monthly mean maximum temperature of 22.4 degrees, monthly mean temperature of 20.2 degrees and monthly mean minimum temperature of 18.4 degrees were 2.0 degrees, 2.0 degrees and 2.2 degrees above their corresponding normals, and all of them were the second highest on record for December. This was also the first time that no Cold Weather Warning was in force in November and December in a year since the Cold Weather Warning System commenced operation in 1999. The month was also drier than usual with a total rainfall of 6.5 millimetres, only about 23 per cent of the normal of 28.8 millimetres. The annual total rainfall of 2 558.7 millimetres was about 5 per cent above the annual normal of 2 431.2 millimetres.
With a band of clouds covering the coast of Guangdong, the weather of Hong Kong was mainly cloudy with one or two rain patches on the first four days of the month. Under the influence of a dry northeast monsoon, the weather turned generally fine and dry on December 5 and remained so on the following four days. With the return of a cloud band, it turned mainly cloudy with one or two rain patches on December 10 and the next morning. It turned generally fine during the day on December 11 as the clouds thinned out. With plenty of sunshine, the maximum temperature at the Observatory rose to 26.0 degrees that afternoon, the highest of the month. A fresh to strong easterly airstream affected the coast of Guangdong the next day. Locally, the weather remained mainly fine and dry.
A cold front moved across the coast of Guangdong on the late afternoon of December 13. Under the influence of its associated strong northeast monsoon, winds strengthened from the north and temperatures fell progressively. It was rather cool on the mornings of the next two days. Additionally, while one or two rain patches occurred on December 13 under the influence of a broad band of clouds, the weather turned generally fine on the night of December 14 under the influence of a dry northeast monsoon and remained so on the next three days. It was also very dry on December 14 and 15, with the relative humidity over most parts of the territory staying around 30 to 40 per cent during the day. With the return of a broad band of clouds, the weather became cloudier with one or two rain patches later on December 18 and the next day. As the cloud band thinned out, the weather turned generally fine and dry during the day on December 20.
Under the influence of a fresh to strong northeast monsoon, it was windier on the following two days. While it was fine and dry on December 21, the weather turned mainly cloudy on December 22 due to the approach of a cloud band and remained so on the following four days. While there were one or two rain patches on the morning of December 25, with a replenishment of the northeast monsoon reaching the coast of Guangdong that morning, the local weather became dry and cool that day. It remained dry with rather cool mornings on the following two days, with the temperature at the Observatory falling to a minimum of 13.8 degrees on the morning of December 27, the lowest of the month. Under the influence of the dry northeast monsoon, the local weather turned mainly fine from December 27 to 29. With the moderation of the northeast monsoon, winds subsided on December 30, with visibility falling below 5 000 metres over parts of the territory that morning. An easterly airstream brought cloudier weather on the last day of the month.
Three tropical cyclones occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in December 2025.
Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for December are tabulated in Table 2.
Source: AI-found images
