World class city status to be maintained

For Hong Kong to maintain its status as a world class city, it will have to capitalise on the vast achievements it obtained during the past 12 months. It was a year which saw records broken on the financial markets and education prominence putting the city against renown halls of academia.

The blueprint for its future will be drawn from the experiences of the people of Hong Kong who are currently being consulted for the Chief Executive’s fourth policy address in September.

"I have endeavoured to transform the culture of the Government into one that is result-oriented, works at a faster pace, and is proactive. My team and I have been listening to the views of the public and focusing on serving the community. We are committed to developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods to ensure our initiatives effectively respond to the needs of the public," the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee said in a release announcing the consultation process.

The Government will hold more than 40 consultation sessions to receive the views and suggestions of Legislative Council Members, representatives of different sectors, and the public. Mr Lee and his principal officials will also conduct district visits to meet with the public and representatives of different sectors to listen to their views directly. His address will be, as always, a ‘team Hong Kong’ effort.

Key to Hong Kong’s success has been the city’s financial sector. Already this year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has ushered in a total of 52 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), up 30 per cent year-on-year and raising a total of HK$124 billion, an increase of 590 per cent year-on-year. This placed Hong Kong’s ranking first in the world ahead of New York, London, and Sydney. This is expected to grow to 80 IPOs worth some $200 billion by year’s end. And the Hang Seng Index has already risen by 25.3 per cent year-on-year.

The government will surely be looking at ways to continue improving the listing system, say, by tapping our neighbouring Asian markets for secondary listings, further promote liquidity in the stock market, attract more quality enterprises from around the world to list in Hong Kong, and enhance Hong Kong’s attractiveness and vitality as a listing location.

The other pillars of the economy, tourism, aviation and shipping where efforts are being made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre, will also receive prominent mention in his speech.

Moreover, reaching Hong Kong’s fore has been its education system, not only the achievements of local universities and students, but also an opportunity provided by US president Donald Trump himself when he closed the doors on foreign student intakes by the famed Harvard University and others. As a result of Trump policies, Hong Kong's eight publicly funded universities have received 850 transfer inquiries from students affected by the US policies and have extended at least 36 formal offers as of the end of June. This will obviously involve stepping up promotion of the "Study in Hong Kong" brand to attract more outstanding non local students.

As the only city with five universities in the world's top 100, Hong Kong is an international hub for exchange and collaboration among high-calibre talent. For two consecutive years (this will be his third), the Chief Executive has put forward in the policy address the goal of developing Hong Kong into an international education hub and a cradle for future talent. This will involve making good use of the Northern Metropolis development, with new land, new population, excellent connectivity, development opportunities of different industries and close connections with the Mainland, to provide space for the post-secondary education sector to develop and enhance its quality and capacity.

At present, the Government has reserved about 90 hectares for developing the Northern Metropolis University Town on the outskirts of Yuen Long and the overall plan will incorporate much needed student accommodation, a major problem in Hong Kong where only one student in four can acquire accommodation on campus.

Undoubtedly, this year’s address will be an update of these developments, which are expected to be completed after 2030.

Of course, the address will cover every aspect of Hong Kong life and core industries including tourism, aviation and shipping, where efforts will be made to enhance Hong Kong as a regional shipping centre.

Providing a background to the policy address will be research undertaken during the year by the Chief Executive’s Central Policy Unit (CEPU) which co-ordinates the consultation process and follow-up the implementation of policy initiatives.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

The conclusion of the Jimmy Lai Chee-ying trial, which lasted 156 days, was a showcase on law and order in Hong Kong and showed that justice seen is justice done.

A panel of three judges – Esther Toh Lye-ping, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee – delivered their verdict on Monday that Jimmy Lai was guilty of national security charges involving two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to print seditious articles.

In their ruling, detailed in an 855-page document, the judges said Lai was the “mastermind” behind the conspiracies, with his sole intent was to “seek the downfall” of the ruling Communist Party.

The trial, which spanned two years (December 2023-2025), with breaks in between, drew international attention through a global campaign by his son, Sebastien, and his team of public relations cum legal experts, Doughty Street Chambers, of London.

They kept the story alive visiting world leaders and TV networks pleading for Lai senior’s release from custody citing poor health. And they got the sound bites they wanted, but the end result was useless. Jimmy Lai was found guilty as charged and could face life imprisonment, the maximum penalty for collusion.

Before passing sentence, the judges will hear mitigating arguments from Lai’s solicitors on January 12 as to why he should be sentenced and if so for a minimum period. They will surely use Lai’s deteriorating health as their main argument.

After the mitigating hearing, which is expected to last about a week, the judges will retire to decide Lai’s fate.

An interesting aspect of the trial is its open transparency. Although Hong Kong is rated 6th in the Asia/Pacific region and 24th out of 143 countries worldwide by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the Lai lobbyists branded the High Court as a “sham court.”

The territory’s prosecuting office and the Chief Executive decided on a three-member panel of judges to hear the case instead of going for a full jury hearing. The reason is obvious: it would be difficult to find a seven- or 12-member panel of ordinary citizens who had not heard of the Jimmy Lai arrest and formed an opinion before the trial started.

The courtroom was specially configured to allow 58 seats in the public gallery and another 42 for the press in the main courtroom. Of those, 21 are allocated to local media, 14 to international outlets and seven to digital news platforms.

A group of about 16 western diplomats arrived at the court at around 8.20am on Monday morning with representatives from the UK, the US, the EU and Canada among them to hear the verdict and report back to their respective foreign ministers. Most of them attended the hearings every day to observe the fairness of the court. Never has a Hong Kong court hearing been under such intense scrutiny.

It could not be more transparent. It was open to the world. From the first day that prosecution witnesses gave their evidence to the closing remarks by the defendant, the foreign diplomats and international press were there recording every word spoken.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone to call it a “sham court” and international reaction will be interesting. Their comments could implicate their complicity in Lai’s masterplan to overthrow the Chinese government.

Speaking outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday, shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered, Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the police force’s National Security Department said Lai’s conviction was “justice served.”

Lai “exploited his media enterprise” and used his wealth and “extensive foreign political connections” to collude with foreign powers, Li said.

His views were echoed by Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung who believed that the trial illustrates how safe Hong Kong is and how we are able to interdict all the national security concerns and all the attempts to affect the national security. “I think this is a good showcase to show that Hong Kong is safe and it is safe to do investments in Hong Kong,” he said.

Indeed. The Jimmy Lai trial was a showcase on how Hong Kong’s rule of law and judicial prudence can shape the city to make it the Pearl of the Orient.