The race is on and Hong Kong is about to show the world how democracy works. It is a unique system where everybody gets a slice of the pie. But it is a system which the pro-democracy activists and doomsday sayers fail to understand.
Yesterday nominations closed for the 2025 Legislative Council elections with 161 nominations submitted – slightly up on the previous elections – for the 90 seats in the legislature.
The representation is wide in the Hong Kong system. The man in the street gets to vote for 20 seats. With a population of 6.5 million over the voting age of 18, there are about 4 million registered electors, so about 2/3s will be able to vote. That is democracy.
Then we have the functional constituencies with 30 seats and 60 candidates. This group ensures that all the trades and professions are represented. So, members in this group effectively get two votes – one for home and one for work. With two candidates for every seat there is bound to be plenty of competition.
Another 50 hopefuls have submitted their forms to vie for the 40-strong Election Committee constituency. This is the group that elects the Chief Executive. It actually has 1,500 members – 1,000 more than the election committee that picks the US President – but only 40 can sit on the Legislature.
That gives us 90 seats in the legislature with highly qualified men and women who are willing to give up their time to work for the betterment of Hong Kong. Nothing could be more representative than this mix of people in society to speak up for the underdog, the underprivileged, for the hardworking housewife… How dare the prophets of doom and the western media say there is no democracy in Hong Kong!
The western media continue calling media mogul Jimmy Lai a pro-democracy advocate. He’s not, and it was rarely mentioned throughout his trial. He is being tried for subversion and collusion with foreign governments. But democracy sells papers.
Now the race has begun, and the clash of titans heralds a new era for Hong Kong. Hopefully, the campaigns will bring out the voters, which is difficult in any country.
The man in the street is generally apolitical; he doesn’t care about politics and has enough of his own problems. Why should he go out to vote? It is necessary to ensure that the right people are picked to be representing the public at large and to stand up for injustices.
Apathy towards elections has gotten so bad in some places that 21 countries have introduced compulsory voting, including Australia, but excluding the US, UK and most of Europe.
This is not necessary for Hong Kong. In the last Legislative Councils elections in 2021, the voter turnout for the geographic constituencies was 30.2 per cent, which is par for the course.
But this year we hope to do better. The government is bound to roll out a series of campaigns urging its citizens to vote on December 7. Already Chief Executive John Lee has been touting the boy scouts at the rally with: "I’m calling on scouts and scout leaders who are eligible voters to actively take part in the elections, fulfilling their civic and social responsibilities."
Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Rosanna Law said she will feature in a video clip along with leading officials in her bureau to encourage the public to vote.
And Financial Secretary Paul Chan said that he has met with senior advisors to map out stronger promotional campaigns for the Legislative Council elections, adding that more than 30 departments and public bodies under the six policy bureaus must comprehensively intensify such efforts in the coming month.
However, it will be up to the candidates themselves to draw the voters out. Operation doorknock prevails and it will be up to him/herself to convince the eligible voter to vote.
A voter turnout rate higher than 30 per cent will generate profound international publicity to turn around the prophets of doom and instill newborn energy into the life of Hong Kong.
Mark Pinkstone
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Hong Kong will be raising the bar to be the world leader in traditional Chinese medicine with the recent opening of the Chinese Medicine Hospital in Tseung Kwan O, according to the aspirations of China’s National Health Commission head Lei Haichao.
And that is also the aim of Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu when he said he planned to turn Hong Kong into a “bridgehead for traditional Chinese medicine to go global.”
Both were speaking at the launching ceremony of the hospital and the adjacent testing institute as well as the signing ceremony of two agreements between the Hong Kong health authorities and the national agencies to deepen collaborations on both Chinese medicine and cancer research.
Lee said Hong Kong should serve the globe for the benefit of humanity and accelerate the internationalism of Chinese medicine, adding that the hospital should collaborate with the Hong Kong Science Park and the Hetao Shenzhen–Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone on clinical research and technology transfer.
Lee followed up with “Chinese medicine is an integral part of Hong Kong’s healthcare system, and our medical system, regulatory framework, standard-setting and clinical research are all aligned with international standards.”
So, the stage is set, but it will take a few years before Hong Kong can claim to be a global leader in the field. A Chinese medicine practitioner who sits on the hospital’s board, agreed that the testing institute was essential in helping promote Chinese medicine globally, as Hong Kong had a robust commerce and finance infrastructure with world-class research centres and universities.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has reached 196 countries and regions worldwide, with increasing institutional presence and recognition. China alone hosts more than 4,600 hospitals specializing in TCM.
The global market for Chinese medicine was estimated to be worth US$33.3 billion last year, rising to US$47.8 billion by the end of 2032, according to online marketing research data, and published in local media.
Internationally, TCM is integrated into mainstream healthcare systems in several countries. For example, in Malta, a TCM department was established at Mater Dei Hospital in 2008, marking the first time TCM was granted an independent department in a state hospital in the European Union. The Mediterranean Regional Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine (MRCTCM) in Malta has also become a well-known center for TCM treatment and training.
In Germany, the first European TCM hospital opened in Koetzting in 1991 as a joint venture with a Beijing hospital.
And the well-known Tong Ren Tang, Beijing’s oldest pharmacy with branches throughout Hong Kong, opened a branch in central London in 1995.
In 1870 the Tung Wah Hospital was the first to use Chinese medicine for the treatment in Chinese hospitals providing free medical services. As the promotion of Western medicine by the British government started from 1940, Western medicine started being popular among the Hong Kong population. But, in 1959, Hong Kong institutes had researched that the use of traditional Chinese medicine could replace Western medicine.
During the British rule, Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong were not recognized as "medical doctors" per se, which meant they could not issue prescription drugs, give injections, etc. However, TCM practitioners could register and operate TCM as "herbalists".
The Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong regulates compounds and professional standards for TCM practitioners. All TCM practitioners in Hong Kong are required to register with the council, which was established in 1999. The eligibility for registration includes a recognised 5-year university degree of TCM, a 30-week minimum supervised clinical internship, and passing the licensing exam.
Locally, the approved Chinese medicine institutions are Hong Kong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University, which operates the new hospital in Tseung Kwan O.
There were a few TCM pharmacies in Macau during the colonial period. In 1994, the Portuguese Macau government published a Decree-Law that officially regulated the TCM market. After the sovereign handover, the Macau S.A.R. government also published regulations on the practice of TCM. In 2000, Macau University of Science and Technology and Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine established the Macau College of Traditional Chinese Medicine to offer a degree course in Chinese medicine.
In Taiwan, TCM practitioners are physicians and are regulated by the Physicians Act. They possess the authority to independently diagnose medical conditions, issue prescriptions, dispense Traditional Chinese Medicine, and prescribe a variety of diagnostic tests including X-rays, ECG, and blood and urine test. Under current law, those who wish to qualify for the Chinese medicine exam must have to obtained a 7-year university degree in TCM. The National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, established in 1963, is the largest Chinese herbal medicine research center in Taiwan
To be the global leader it aspires to be, Hong Kong has a long way to go. Currently it has only 25 beds and day-care services and only six specialized TCM services. But this will grow rapidly and within four years the hospital will provide full inpatient services with its 400 beds and treating outpatient services of 400,000 annual attendances.
