Tag Archives: China

     The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, today (November 30) met with two students from the Shine Skills Centre of the Vocational Training Council who are participating in this year’s government internship scheme to learn about their internship experience, and encouraged them to continue to learn and equip themselves for the future.
 
     Mr Nip said the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) launched this internship scheme in 2016 to enable students with special education needs to have internship opportunities in the Government to gain practical work experience, as well as to allow civil service colleagues to better appreciate their potential. Since the implementation of the scheme, 490 student interns have participated in it.
 
     This time, 32 students from the Shine Skills Centre were deployed to 23 government bureaux and departments in October for internships lasting around eight weeks. Among them, Mr Ryan Ramirez and Mr Chan Ho-ting were assigned to work in the CSB. They both consider that the scheme has provided valuable internship experiences for them. Apart from gaining new skills, they have been able to achieve personal growth. 
 
     Mr Ramirez has been deployed to the Supplies Registry and he said the internship is his first working experience. He said that he has gained tremendous satisfaction from being able to follow instructions and complete the assigned tasks smoothly. He also thanked his colleagues and mentors for their patience and guidance, which has made his internship joyful and fulfilling.
 
     Mr Chan, who studied Commercial and Retailing Service at the Shine Skills Centre, was tasked to provide administrative assistance in hosting events and training courses at the Training and Development Section of the General Grades Office. He said that he had been given a lot of support and encouragement from his colleagues during his internship, which enabled him to face different challenges readily and equipped him with the confidence to work in different environments in the future.
 
     Mr Nip said he was pleased to know that, apart from Mr Ramirez and Mr Chan, students deployed to other bureaux and departments have also made efforts in gaining new knowledge and worked actively during their internships. Their good conduct and work performance has been highly commended by their colleagues and mentors of participating departments.
 
     He remarked that the scheme provides students with practical working experience to increase their competitiveness before they enter the employment market. He said he believes the students have acquired different experiences and training throughout their internships and expressed the hope that the students can apply the acquired knowledge in the future.
 
     Unlike other government internship schemes, this internship scheme for students with special education needs includes training elements. An experienced colleague with a certain length of service is assigned to each intern as his or her mentor. The mentors brief them on government organisation and department operation, as well as provide support to make their internships more fulfilling and comprehensive so that the interns can reach their full potential.

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     Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, at the Side Event entitled “Dispute Settlement – Online Dispute Resolution” of the 59th Annual Session of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) today (November 30):

Secretary General Kennedy Gastorn (Secretary-General of AALCO), your excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

     On behalf of the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Side Event of the 59th Annual Session of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization. I must once again express my gratitude for the support of the Central People’s Government and AALCO for agreeing to host the Annual Session in Hong Kong which facilitates this Side Event today. The theme of this Side Event is “Dispute Settlement – Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)”.

     Under the Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and AALCO, the AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre is established with a view “to promote the growth and effective functioning of arbitration institutions and other alternative dispute resolution services, including online dispute resolution services, in the People’s Republic of China including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)”.

     In fact, AALCO has always been promoting peaceful, efficient and effective dispute resolution since the Asian-African Conference held in 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. The Ten Principles of Bandung, being the declaration of the Bandung Conference, calls for, inter alia, the “Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation, arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other peaceful means of the parties’ own choice, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations”. In order to realise this principle, AALCO has established a number of regional arbitration centres in Asia and Africa over the years to promote the development of international commercial arbitration in different regions.

     The HKSAR Government has been fostering the development of ODR on various fronts, including opting into the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Collaborative Framework on ODR in April last year to promote the use of ODR for MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) in APEC economies as well as launching the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform on ODR, iGLIP on ODR, earlier this year to keep track of international developments of ODR and study various issues on ODR in collaboration with UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission On International Trade Law) with the support of the DOJ Project Office for Collaboration with UNCITRAL.

     To implement these initiatives, the eBRAM Centre is active in providing an efficient, cost-effective and secure platform for online dealmaking and dispute resolution among parties from all over the world, offering services such as e-negotiation, e-mediation, e-arbitration and e-signing of ODR agreements by integrating the latest technology such as blockchain, smart contract and AI. I will leave it to the CEO of the eBRAM Centre to tell you more in a while.

     Lastly, I would like to thank AALCO, the Asian Academy of International Law and the eBRAM Centre for co-organising this Side Event. This Side Event is indeed one of the several events on the subject of ODR that we have held this month. I would like to mention in particular, the Workshop on ODR for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) trade organised with the support of the ASEAN Secretariat during the Hong Kong Legal Week 2021 earlier this month, which attracted over 600 registered participants from over 30 jurisdictions. At the Workshop, top international experts met to discuss the importance of ODR for cross-border trade, providing much food for thought and ideas to be taken forward. To conclude my opening remarks, I would now like to show you a video highlight of what these experts say about ODR. Thank you. read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) announced that as of 0.00am, November 30, the CHP was investigating six additional confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), taking the number of cases to 12 437 in Hong Kong so far (comprising 12 436 confirmed cases and one probable case).

     The newly reported cases are imported cases. Four of the cases involved mutant strains while the viral load of one case is insufficient for mutation tests and the mutation test result of the remaining case is pending. The patients comprise two males and four females, aged 1 to 48. All of them arrived in Hong Kong from Group A specified places (high-risk). Case 12437, 12438 and 12439 are close contacts of imported cases confirmed previously (case 12411, 12412 and 12413) and they tested positive at the Penny’s Bay Quarantine Centre. For the remaining patients, one of them tested positive during the “test-and-hold” arrangement upon arrival at the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre at Hong Kong International Airport and the other two tested positive during quarantine.

     A total of 43 cases have been reported in the past 14 days (November 16 to 29) and all of them are imported cases.

     According to the testing and quarantine arrangements for local COVID-19 cases with mutant strains, the CHP reminded that persons who resided or worked within the same building as the residence of relevant cases will be subject to compulsory testing on specified dates in accordance with the announcement by the DH. They will also be required to undergo self-monitoring until the 21st day (see the details of the buildings and dates of testing at www.coronavirus.gov.hk/pdf/CTN_Specified_premises_and_Dates_of_Testing.pdf).

     Specified persons in relation to the following specified premises are also reminded to undergo compulsory testing in accordance with the compulsory testing notice tomorrow (December 1):

• Way Man Court, 50-52 Village Road, Happy Valley

     The CHP’s epidemiological investigations and relevant contact tracing on the confirmed cases are ongoing. For case details and contact tracing information, please see the Annex or the “COVID-19 Thematic Website” (www.coronavirus.gov.hk).

     â€‹The spokesman for the CHP stressed, “The global situation of COVID-19 infection remains severe and there is a continuous increase in the number of cases involving mutant strains that carry higher transmissibility, and there are also reports of breakthrough infections in some vaccinated individuals. The CHP strongly urges members of the public to avoid all non-essential travel outside Hong Kong, in particular to specified places with high risk under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances and Travellers) Regulation (Cap. 599H).” read more

     The "Quarterly Report on General Household Survey" for July to September 2021 is now available for download.        The report contains statistics on labour force, employment, unemployment and underem… read more

     The Education Bureau (EDB) today (November 30) issued a circular memorandum to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, introducing the Values Education Curriculum Framework (Pilot Version) prepared by the Standing Committee on Values Education under the Curriculum Development Council (CDC). Schools are encouraged to build on their existing foundation and step up their efforts to foster the development of students’ positive values and attitudes, in order to help them in facing opportunities and challenges in their studies, daily lives and growth with positive attitudes.
 
     A spokesman for the EDB said, “To foster students’ development of positive values, attitudes and behaviours has always been one of the important goals of the Hong Kong school curriculum. The EDB has all along been adopting a ‘multi-pronged and co-ordinated’ approach, through continuously updating curriculum guides, developing learning and teaching resources, providing training for teachers as well as organising activities for students, and more, to support schools in promoting values education on all fronts. In response to the recommendation made by the Task Force on Review of School Curriculum in September 2020 on enhancing values education, the CDC set up the Standing Committee on Values Education and prepared the Values Education Curriculum Framework (Pilot Version) to provide schools with suggestions and examples for the planning of their school-based values education curriculum within and beyond the classroom, with a view to cultivating students’ positive values, attitudes and behaviours.
 
     The spokesman continued, “The curriculum framework coherently links the four key learning stages from Primary One to Secondary Six. Building on the features and needs in students’ stages of development, the framework lists the learning expectations on their attitudes and behavious in different domains (e.g. personal, family, community, national and global domains). Adopting the Chinese culture as the backbone, it provides schools with a comprehensive and systematic framework to promote values education.
 
     The major focuses of the curriculum framework include:

1. Adding “diligence” as the priority value and attitude on top of the existing nine priority values and attitudes (that is “perseverance”, “respect for others”, “responsibility”, “national identity”, “commitment”, “integrity” , “care for others”, “law-abidingness” and “empathy”), to equip students with virtues such as diligence, self-care ability, a sense of responsibility and perseverance, to contribute to their families, society and the nation;

2. Emphasising the necessity to nurture a sense of belonging towards the country from an early age, to help students correctly understand Chinese history, appreciate Chinese culture and traditional values, respect the national symbols and signs (including the national flag, the national emblem and the national anthem), and understand the importance of the Constitution, the Basic Law and national security, so as to cultivate a sense of national identity among students and help them understand their responsibility, as a Chinese, to protect their family and the country and to share joys and sorrows;

3. Further enhancing life education (including understanding the meaning of life, facing adversity and challenges with positive attitudes, respecting and cherishing life, realising one’s goals and exploring the future);

4. Emphasising the learning elements of sex education (including self-understanding, good interpersonal relationships, self-protection, respect for and acceptance of others);

5. Cultivating media and information literacy among students so that they can process information from different media in a rational and responsible manner; and

6. Enhancing the learning elements of anti-drug education (including understanding of harm caused by drugs, building positive values for facing adversity and resisting temptation, building a positive attitude towards life and leading a healthy lifestyle).
 
     The spokesman said, “The curriculum framework also provides recommended strategies and resource support for schools’ reference. Schools should make reference to the curriculum framework when holistically planning the school-based values education and organising related learning activities, and collaborating with different stakeholders (including teaching staff, parents and alumni) to promote whole school participation.”
 
     The EDB will continue to provide schools with diversified curriculum resources and support, including curriculum planning tools, learning and teaching resources such as lesson plans on “life events”, animations for values education, comics for moral education and exemplars of learning and teaching. Related professional development programmes for teachers and student learning activities will also be organised to support schools in holistically promoting values education. Meanwhile, the EDB will organise briefing sessions to introduce the contents of the curriculum framework to primary and secondary schools.
 
     The spokesman stressed that curriculum development is an ongoing process and the aforesaid curriculum framework is launched on a trial basis in the current school year. Through various channels, such as school visits, questionnaire surveys, focus group interviews, talks and workshops, the EDB will seek to understand how the curriculum framework is being trialed. The EDB will also invite some primary and secondary schools to share their implementation experience and reflection as reference for further enhancement of the curriculum, for full implementation in the next school year.
 
     For further details of the curriculum framework, please visit the EDB Values Education webpage (www.edb.gov.hk/en/ve). read more