Tag Archives: China

     The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government today (June 3) hosted the Forging a National High-calibre Talent Hub Symposium, which gathered about 150 representatives from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong Province, the nine Mainland cities and four major co-operation platforms of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Macao SAR, as well as 23 renowned universities on the Mainland and five of the world’s top 100 universities in Hong Kong.

     The symposium was themed “Regional Collaboration, Empowerment through Science and Education, Global Talent Attraction”. Through keynote speeches and thematic panel discussions, participants exchanged views on promoting regional collaborative ties on talent work and the strategic development of a national high-calibre talent hub.

     In delivering his welcome remarks, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, said that education, technology and talent form the critical foundation for developing new quality productive forces and enhancing high-quality development. The Committee on Education, Technology and Talents of the Hong Kong SAR Government is targeting the manpower demand of Hong Kong’s strategic positioning of “eight centres” and co-ordinating the promotion of integrated development of education, technology and talent to build Hong Kong as an international hub for high-calibre talent.

     Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Mr Yu Jiadong stated in his video address that talent serves as a strategic pillar for advancing Chinese modernisation. Building a national high-calibre talent hub requires integration of education, technology and talent, while establishing an environment for talent development with global competitiveness needs reform and innovation of the talent system and mechanism from a global perspective, thereby creating new opportunities and impetus for achieving high-quality development.

     The Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, Professor Richard Wong, and the Vice-President (Talent and International Strategy) of City University of Hong Kong, Professor Li Wen-jung, delivered keynote speeches at the symposium, discussing how higher education institutions in Hong Kong can nurture talent for integration with regional and industry development.

     The symposium featured two thematic panel discussions. The first discussion, joined by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun; the Director of the Beijing Municipal Talent Work Bureau, Mr Zhang Ruobing; the Director of the Shanghai Municipal Talent Work Bureau, Mr Pan Xiaogang; the Deputy Director of the Talent Work Leading Group Office of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, Mr Man Xincheng; and the Secretary-General of the Talent Development Committee of the Macao SAR Government, Mr Chao Chong-hang, explored ways to synergise regional strengths in building the talent hub. The second discussion, with representatives from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, examined the new talent cultivation models in innovative education.

     Witnessed by Mr Sun, the Director of Hong Kong Talent Engage, Mr Anthony Lau, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Shenzhen Qianhai Cooperation Zone, Ms Liang Ke, and member of the Standing Committee and Director of the Talent Work Leading Group Office of the CPC Guangzhou Nansha District Committee, Mr Zhang Jiabing, respectively, deepening collaboration in talent recruitment, services, employment and development between Hong Kong and the two regions.

     In his closing remarks, Mr Sun highlighted Hong Kong’s various advantages in attracting global talent and the need to collaborate with different regions across the country through interdependence and mutual reinforcement, thereby accelerating the development of the national high-calibre talent hub. He expected that the symposium, together with the second Global Talent Summit · Hong Kong scheduled for early next year, would bring together valuable experiences from various regions in talent attraction, retention, nurturing and recruitment, to inject new impetus into high-quality development and achieve the vision of developing a national quality workforce.

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     The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) announced today (June 3) that the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), in accordance with the new section 14(1AB) of the Schedule to the Chief Executive Election Ordinance (Cap. 569) (the Ordinance), has specified June 24, 2025, as the publication date of the provisional register; and July 21, 2025, as the publication date of the final register for the 2025 Election Committee subsectors (ECSSs).

     The Chief Executive has specified December 7, 2025, as the date for holding the general election for the eighth term Legislative Council (LegCo). As regards the ECSS By-elections to be held before the LegCo General Election, the date will be September 7, 2025.

     A spokesman for the REO said, “The Electoral Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2025 introduced a provision that empowers the ERO to suitably advance the publication of the registers for ECSSs in the year of the LegCo general election (including this year) through accelerating part of the working procedures, so that the ECSS By‑elections of the year can be conducted in accordance with the most updated information included in the register without having to adopt the register published in late September in the year earlier. To enable the ECSS By‑elections, to be held on September 7 this year, to be conducted on the basis of the latest voter situation, the ERO will advance the compilation and publication of the 2025 provisional/final registers for ECSSs. The relevant notice was gazetted today.

     “In case voters/new applicants of ECSSs received requests from the REO for supplementary information, please reply by June 9, 2025,” the spokesman added.

Arrangements for inspection of provisional register and omissions list for ECSSs

     The 2025 provisional register and omissions list for the ECSSs will be published on June 24 for inspection by specified persons under the law until June 30. For details of the inspection arrangements, please visit the REO webpage reo.gov.hk/en/voter/checkvrstatus/registers.html.

     All ECSS voters may also check their registration status and particulars, including whether they have been entered into the omissions lists for ECSSs, through “iAM Smart” or the Voter Registration website (vr.gov.hk).

     Voters who have been included in the omissions list for ECSSs will receive reminding letters from the REO to confirm their eligibility. The envelopes of the reminding letters are beige in colour with a message, “Immediate action required. Your voting right is at stake” printed in red. Recipients must reply or provide supplementary information on or before the statutory deadline of June 30 by post, fax or email; or by using a mobile device to scan the QR code on the reply slip and upload the required information to the REO e-Form Upload Platform so that they may, upon the Revising Officer’s approval, keep their voter status and be included in the final register of ECSSs. Any claims or objections with regard to the provisional register and omissions list of ECSSs should be lodged in person with the REO by the statutory deadline of June 30. The Revising Officer will consider the evidence provided by the applicant and make a ruling according to law.

     The REO will publish the 2025 final register for ECSSs on July 21.

Register for the Election Committee

     In addition, pursuant to section 4 of the Schedule to the Ordinance, the ERO will publish the provisional register and omissions list of the Election Committee (EC) on June 9, 2025. The related period for lodging claims and objections is from June 9 to 16. In accordance with section 5 of the Schedule to the Ordinance, the Electoral Affairs Commission will take into account the provisional register for the EC and the ruling of cases of claims and objections (if any) by the Revising Officer, to determine the numbers of vacancies of elected members in each of the subsectors to be filled at the ECSS By-elections this year; and the numbers of vacancies of nominated members to be filled through supplementary nomination.

     Upon completion of the above procedures, the REO will publish notices in the Gazette on July 4 to announce the number of EC members to be returned for the relevant subsectors at the ECSS By-elections, the designated bodies of subsectors that need to fill vacancies of EC members and the number of EC members that they can nominate, and the details for the submission of nomination forms, including the period and addresses for submission. read more

     The Transport Department (TD) today (June 3) held the Bus Safety Excellence Award Ceremony 2025 to commend multidisciplinary staff of franchised bus operators (FBOs) with excellent performances in enhancing bus safety in daily operations, with a view to encouraging the trade to promote safety awareness with ongoing efforts. About 200 participants attended the ceremony.

     Officiating at the ceremony, the Permanent Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Mr Kevin Choi, said that continuously enhancing bus safety is a shared priority of the Government and FBOs, which requires both hardware equipment and staff training to complement each other. While bus captains shoulder the important duty of safe driving, the dedication of and collaboration among professional teams behind them are equally indispensable in ensuring stable services. Mr Choi expressed gratitude to the contributions of staff at different positions, who upheld professionalism in delivering safe and reliable bus services. He looked forward to ongoing efforts of the trade in fostering a safety culture and the importance of vehicle safety extensively, thereby providing a safe commute for passengers at large.

     Also officiating at the ceremony were Legislative Council (LegCo) Member (Transport) Mr Frankie Yick; the Chairman of the LegCo Panel on Transport, Mr Chan Siu-hung; the Deputy Chairman of the LegCo Panel on Transport, Mr Yiu Pak-leung; the Commissioner for Transport, Ms Angela Lee; the Chairman of the Transport Advisory Committee, Professor Stephen Cheung; Independent Expert Member of the Committee on Enhancement of Franchised Bus Safety Professor Wong Sze-chun; and the Chief Superintendent of Police (Traffic) of the Hong Kong Police Force, Mr Leung Shun. The officiating guests hosted the kick-off ceremony and urged road users to take heed of safety tips, including “staying courteous and alert”, “obeying traffic regulations”, “keeping a safe distance” and “driving attentively, no speeding”.

     The Excellence Award this year gave recognition to a total of 57 staff members, comprising 28 bus captains, six driving instructors, 12 inspectors/regulators and 11 engineers/mechanics from five teams. Among them, the engineer/mechanic teams competed in bus safety projects for the first time, with their entries assessed by the TD based on safety benefits, creativity and technological application. The winning entries, such as a predictive bus maintenance system and the application of an AI digital video recording system on both buses and emergency rescue vehicles, effectively made good use of technologies in enhancing safety and efficiency.

     Awardees in the other categories were nominated by FBOs and assessed by the TD. Regarding the assessment criteria, bus captains should have a clean traffic accident record and no driving offence records, and their driving attitude and skills were assessed. Driving instructors should provide effective safety training for bus captains while inspectors/regulators should maintain effective management of buses’ daily operations. At the ceremony, special guest Matthew Ho had interactive quiz games with bus trade representatives, strengthening their understanding of a proper driving attitude and bus safety tips.

     The list of awardees this year is set out in the Annex. 

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     In response to the Japanese Government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene issued a Food Safety Order which prohibits all aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds originating from the 10 metropolis/prefectures, namely Tokyo, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama, from being imported into and supplied in Hong Kong.
 
     For other Japanese aquatic products, sea salt and seaweeds that are not prohibited from being imported into Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department is conducting comprehensive radiological tests to verify that the radiation levels of these products do not exceed the guideline levels before they are allowed to be supplied in the market.
 
     From noon on June 2 to noon today (June 3), the CFS conducted tests on the radiological levels of 152 food samples imported from Japan, which were of the “aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt” category. No sample was found to have exceeded the safety limit. Details can be found on the CFS’s thematic website titled “Control Measures on Foods Imported from Japan” (www.cfs.gov.hk/english/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fc_01_30_Nuclear_Event_and_Food_Safety.html).
 
     In parallel, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has also tested 50 samples of local catch for radiological levels. All the samples passed the tests. Details can be found on the AFCD’s website (www.afcd.gov.hk/english/fisheries/Radiological_testing/Radiological_Test.html).
 
     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has also enhanced the environmental monitoring of the local waters. No anomaly has been detected so far. For details, please refer to the HKO’s website (www.hko.gov.hk/en/radiation/monitoring/seawater.html).
 
     From August 24, 2023, to noon today, the CFS and the AFCD have conducted tests on the radiological levels of 140 699 samples of food imported from Japan (including 92 606 samples of aquatic and related products, seaweeds and sea salt) and 32 288 samples of local catch respectively. All the samples passed the tests. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     Exchange Fund Bills tender results:
 

Tender date	:	June 3, 2025
Paper on offer	:	EF Bills
Issue number	:	Q2523
Issue date	:	June 4, 2025
Maturity date	:	September 3, 2025
Amount applied	:	HK$142,401 MN
Amount allotted	:	HK$64,087 MN
Average yield accepted	:	0.69 PCT
Highest yield accepted	:	0.86 PCT
Pro rata ratio*	:	About 23 PCT
Average tender yield	:	1.01 PCT
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Tender date	:	June 3, 2025
Paper on offer	:	EF Bills
Issue number	:	H2552
Issue date	:	June 4, 2025
Maturity date	:	December 3, 2025
Amount applied	:	HK$41,350 MN
Amount allotted	:	HK$13,000 MN
Average yield accepted	:	1.49 PCT
Highest yield accepted	:	1.62 PCT
Pro rata ratio*	:	About 29 PCT
Average tender yield	:	1.71 PCT
****************************
Tender date	:	June 3, 2025
Paper on offer	:	EF Bills
Issue number	:	Y2590
Issue date	:	June 4, 2025
Maturity date	:	June 3, 2026
Amount applied	:	HK$10,700 MN
Amount allotted	:	HK$3,000 MN
Average yield accepted	:	1.85 PCT
Highest yield accepted	:	1.99 PCT
Pro rata ratio*	:	About 100 PCT
Average tender yield	:	2.18 PCT

 
*”Pro rata ratio” refers to the average percentage of allotment with respect to each tender participant’s tendered amount at the “highest yield accepted” level.
 
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     Hong Kong Monetary Authority tenders to be held in the week beginning June 9, 2025:
 

Tender date	:	June 10, 2025
Paper on offer	:	EF Bills
Issue number	:	Q2524
Issue date	:	June 11, 2025
Maturity date	:	September 10, 2025
Tenor	:	91 Days
Amount on offer	:	HK$62,596 MN
****************************
Tender date	:	June 10, 2025
Paper on offer	:	EF Bills
Issue number	:	H2553
Issue date	:	June 11, 2025
Maturity date	:	December 10, 2025
Tenor	:	182 Days
Amount on offer	:	HK$14,000 MN

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