Tag Archives: China

     The Inter-departmental Counter Terrorism Unit (ICTU) coordinated a counter-terrorism (CT) exercise codenamed “TIGERPACE” at the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station today (November 19).

     About 300 officers from ICTU’s member departments participated in the exercise, including the Customs and Excise Department, the Correctional Services Department, the Fire Services Department, the Government Flying Service, the Hong Kong Police Force and the Immigration Department. Besides, the Government Laboratory and the MTR Corporation also provided full support and assistance to the exercise. 

     Police Senior Superintendent of the ICTU, Mr Leung Wai-ki, told the media that although public order had basically been restored in the past year, the series of violent incidents happened around July 1 this year, including the lone-wolf domestic terrorist attack in Causeway Bay and the crackdown on the radical group “Returning Valiant”, illustrated that some local radicals had not abandoned their extremist pursuit. They attempted to continue their extremist activities clandestinely and might seek to stage attacks on significant or sensitive days when opportunity arises.

     In response to the threat of domestic terrorism over the past two years, ICTU has been strengthening its CT efforts, with stress on intelligence exchange, personnel training, exercises as well as public education and publicity.

     Through this exercise, ICTU aimed to test and enhance departments’ capabilities in dealing with terrorism-related intelligence and responding to different forms of terrorist attacks, as well as to demonstrate the importance of concerted efforts and coordination by all stakeholders on CT work.

     ICTU also took this opportunity to promote the CT message of “Spot and Report” among the general public. Drawing from foreign countries’ experiences in stopping terrorist attacks, in particular self-radicalised lone-wolf attacks, tragedy could often be avoided if the local communities could timely provide useful information to the law enforcement agencies. When members of the public come across suspicious person or incident, or any suspected terrorist activities in their daily life and work, they should immediately report the case through available means.

     Mr Leung emphasized that no extremist activity should be tolerated or glorified regardless of its form. CT is a matter of “principle” and duty of all.

     ICTU will continue to step up public education and publicity work, call on the assistance of the whole community to counter terrorism and ensure the safety of Hong Kong. read more

     Following is the speech by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at the 2021 Colloquium on International Law today (November 19):

Commissioner Liu (Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Liu Guangyuan), Professor Huang (President of the Chinese Society of International Law, Professor Huang Jin), Dr Neoh (Chairman of the Asian Academy of International Law, Dr Anthony Neoh), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

     Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to speak to you once again at the annual Colloquium on International Law. I would like to thank the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL) and the Chinese Society of International Law for organising this event.

     This is my fifth year of joining the Colloquium and to speak before you, and I am delighted to do so every year as we get to hear from international legal experts, sharing with us their invaluable insights into topical issues of international law which will help shape our future developments. I hope that all of you joining us today from around the world will find the discussions stimulating and rewarding.

     The theme for this year is “Development of International Trade Law in the [Post-]Pandemic Era”. The pandemic, for nearly two years now, has taken away lives and severely disrupted the global economy. Thanks to the concerted community effort and continuing vigilance, we in Hong Kong have basically achieved “zero infection” over the past few months. With business gradually returning to normal, it is now the time for us to explore the future of the post-pandemic era.

     A proper discussion on international trade law naturally necessitates us to first look into the developments of international trade. In the past decade, globalisation and technological advancements have led to dramatic growth in global trade. To illustrate with some figures, from 2005 to 2019, the value of world trade in goods increased from about US$10 trillion to nearly US$19 trillion. The value of trade in services doubled during the same period. The outbreak of the pandemic, however, has made a sharp turn of events and severely disrupted global economic growth. Hong Kong was not spared. In 2020, our GDP declined by 6.1 per cent, which is the sharpest annual decline on record.

     However, recent figures demonstrate that global trade has rebounded. The World Trade Organization (WTO) projected growth in the global merchandise trade volume by about 10.8 per cent in 2021 and 4.7 per cent in 2022, surpassing the pre-pandemic levels, indicating that the effect of the pandemic on world trade is merely transient. Hong Kong’s economy has also shown encouraging signs of recovery. Our economy has grown by 7 per cent year on year in the first nine months of this year and we are expecting 6.4 per cent for the whole year. From these figures, it is not hard to foresee that international trade will continue to grow in the post-pandemic era.

     Indeed, free and open trade and investment is the impetus of growth and the solution to a global economic recovery from the pandemic. This requires the concerted effort of the international community to take concrete steps to strengthen the rule-based multilateral trading system and deepen regional economic integration. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings held last week is an example of such concerted effort. Another example is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which will be implemented by January 2022. We have indicated Hong Kong’s interest in joining the RCEP and are working towards commencing formal dialogue on an early accession when the RCEP is ready to take on new partners.

     At the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting last week, I mentioned that our global efforts in achieving a full-fledged economic recovery must go hand in hand with unimpeded progress towards the sustainable development goals. This calls for heightened international co-operation and determination in domestic policies in promoting a sustainable and inclusive recovery.

     To this end, my Government has undertaken a range of measures from tackling climate change to boosting innovation and technology. Here, focusing on trade, I would like to highlight our efforts in promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enable their greater participation in the global economy. First, we are in the process of developing the Commercial Data Interchange as a way to address the long-standing problem of SME financing. Meanwhile, we are promoting the use of online dispute resolution (ODR) on various fronts, including the implementation of the APEC Collaborative Framework for ODR, to facilitate SMEs’ convenient and affordable access to justice, thereby fostering their growth in the digital economy.

     In last week’s APEC meetings, I have also reiterated Hong Kong’s commitment to free trade and our unequivocal support for multilateralism and international co-operation. Hong Kong, as a renowned international business and trade hub, has always been a staunch supporter of the multilateral trading system. As one of the most externally oriented and open economies in the world, we pursue a free trade policy and promote free enterprise. We are a founding member of the WTO and actively participate in many other international and regional organisations such as APEC, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, all under the name “Hong Kong, China”. We have also signed a range of FTAs and Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with our trading partners to deepen co-operation and promote trade and investments.

     Apart from the encouraging developments on the trade front, I am pleased to say that notwithstanding the challenges brought by the pandemic, Hong Kong’s financial system remains robust and resilient. In September this year, Hong Kong was ranked third globally by the Global Financial Centres Index, and once again, ranked as the world’s freest economy by the Fraser Institute. This resilience is firmly grounded in our “One Country, Two Systems” framework and our longstanding strengths, including the rule of law, a simple and low tax system, a free flow of information and capital and a fair and open business environment. These advantages, coupled with our proximity to the Mainland of China, have made Hong Kong an ideal place for businesses which would like to tap into Mainland markets as well as seize the immense opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative.

     Returning to today’s theme, international trade laws provide an important legal framework for the facilitation of cross-border trade. The transparency, fairness and certainty they provide to commercial transactions are fundamental to promoting the development of international trade. As the landscape of international trade changes over time, international trade laws must also be continuously refined and harmonised to keep up with these changes.

     In this regard, I am pleased to share with you that, with the assistance of the Central People’s Government, we are in the process of extending the application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) to Hong Kong. The Convention, which provides a set of uniform rules governing contracts for the international sale of goods, will be implemented in Hong Kong next year, with the enactment of the Sale of Goods (United Nations Convention) Ordinance in September this year. As an important and widely adopted treaty concluded under the auspices of the UN Commission on International Trade Law in 1980, the CISG has now had 94 Contracting Parties, including Mainland China and more than half of the top 20 trading partners of Hong Kong, as well as many countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. 

     The application of the CISG will enhance our legal infrastructure for the international sale of goods and facilitate our long-term trade development. This is also very much aligned with the directives under the National 14th Five-Year Plan, which supports Hong Kong’s status as an international financial, transportation and trade centre. The Plan also supports Hong Kong’s development as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region, and to this end, we hope that by implementing the CISG in Hong Kong, our strengths in legal and dispute resolution services would be enhanced, making Hong Kong an ideal venue to resolve cross-border CISG-related disputes.

     Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that I have given you some context useful for today’s discussions. History has demonstrated that international co-operation is the way to build long-term peace and prosperity, and international trade is key to fostering international co-operation. Today’s Colloquium, putting together some of the brightest legal minds of our times, will show us the critical role of international trade law in promoting international trade, which is pivotal to the global post-pandemic recovery.

     I thank you all for your participation and wish you a very rewarding Colloquium. Thank you very much.

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

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (November 19) that it had completed investigations and disciplinary proceedings for four banks under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance  (AMLO) (Cap. 615) (Note 1).  The Monetary Authority (MA) has imposed pecuniary penalties of a total of HK$44,200,000 against China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited (CCBA), CTBC Bank Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Branch (CTBCHK), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited (ICBCA) and UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch (UBSHK), as well as issued orders for remedying the contraventions where warranted (Note 2).  Details of the disciplinary actions taken against each of the four banks are set out in the respective Statement of Disciplinary Action per attached.
      
     The investigations followed a series of on-site examinations conducted by the HKMA on banks’ systems and controls for compliance with the AMLO after its enactment on April 1, 2012, when industry understanding and experience were less mature.  The common control lapses identified in the relevant periods relate to ongoing monitoring of customer relationships and deficiencies in conducting enhanced customer due diligence in high risk situations.
      
     Specifically, the four banks concerned have failed to carry out their duties to continuously monitor business relationships through ongoing customer due diligence (CDD), in which CTBCHK failed to take appropriate review steps to ensure documents, data and information relating to customers obtained by it were up-to-date and relevant, while CCBA, ICBCA and UBSHK did not conduct timely periodic reviews for certain customers.  Regarding situations that by nature might present a high risk of money laundering (ML)/terrorist financing (TF), CTBCHK and ICBCA did not comply with the requirement to take either (i) reasonable measures to establish the relevant customers’ or beneficial owners’ sources of wealth and sources of funds involved in the business relationships or (ii) additional measures to mitigate the risk of ML/TF involved in respect of certain customers.  In addition, all four banks contravened the requirement of establishing and maintaining effective procedures for carrying out their duties in relation to ongoing CDD under the AMLO, among which CCBA has adopted restrictive criteria in flagging up alerts for examination while UBSHK’s deficiencies included a system error in extracting customer risk profiles due for periodic review.
      
     In deciding the disciplinary actions, the MA took into account the relevant circumstances and factors, including the following:
      

1. The seriousness of the investigation findings;
2. The need to send a clear deterrent message to the banks and the industry about the importance of effective controls and procedures to address ML and TF risks;
3. The banks’ remedial and enhancement measures to address the deficiencies identified by the HKMA; and
4. There were no previous disciplinary records in relation to the AMLO for the banks concerned and their co-operation with the HKMA during the respective investigations and enforcement proceedings.

 
     The Executive Director (Enforcement and AML) of the HKMA, Ms Carmen Chu, said, “Banks have an important ‘gatekeeper’ role in the ecosystem for anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), with legal and regulatory obligations as set out in the AMLO and the Guideline on AML/CFT, and also in line with international standards.  The identified deficiencies in the four cases occurred in a period following the commencement of the AMLO when industry understanding and experience were less mature, and since then, significant progress has been made by the industry, including the banks concerned, in enhancing financial crime compliance capabilities, with attention being given to improving processes, controls, and staffing.  Banks should make reference to these case examples to review data quality and respective transaction monitoring system effectiveness, and take appropriate risk mitigating measures on an ongoing basis.  Looking forward, the HKMA expects this improving trend to continue, and that the risk-based approach in banks’ AML/CFT efforts should remain to be premised on up-to-date understanding of evolving risks, use of better quality data, responsible innovation including Regtech adoption, and close collaboration in the ecosystem.”
 
Note 1: Prior to March 1, 2018, the short title of Chapter 615 of the Laws of Hong Kong was the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) Ordinance. 
 
Note 2: The disciplinary actions are taken under section 21 of the AMLO.  The AMLO imposes CDD and record-keeping requirements on specified financial institutions, including Authorized Institutions, and designated non-financial businesses and professions.  As regards Authorized Institutions, the MA is the relevant authority under the AMLO. read more

     The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (November 19) that a site, Tai Po Town Lot No. 234 at Tai Po Road – Tai Po Kau, Tai Po, New Territories, in the 2021-22 Land Sale Programme will be disposed of by public tender. Th… read more

     The Department of Health (DH) announced today (November 19) the commencement of a territory-wide Oral Health Survey 2021 (OHS 2021) in November to collect updated and representative oral health information of people in Hong Kong. The DH has commissioned the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong to conduct questionnaire interviews and oral examinations for OHS 2021.

     The OHS 2021 targets five population groups, namely five-year-old children, 12-year-old youths, adults aged between 35 and 44, elderly aged 65 to 74 and elderly aged 65 or above who are receiving long-term care services. Participants of each group will be invited through selected kindergartens, schools or respective service units, or invited as they signed the consent form earlier during the Population Health Survey 2020.

     Staff members will visit the participants’ school, place of residence or respective service units to conduct interviews and oral examinations with them. Participants of the adults aged 35 to 44 and elderly aged 65 to 74 groups may also choose to have the interview and oral examination at designated places.

     In view of the local COVID-19 epidemic situation, staff members will adopt appropriate infection control measures when conducting interviews and oral examinations.

     All personal data and contact information collected in the survey will be kept strictly confidential. Meanwhile, all staff members will carry staff identity cards issued by the DH for the purpose of identification. Members of the public may call the OHS hotline (Tel: 2859 0291) to verify the staff’s identity.

     The public may also visit the OHS website (www.toothclub.gov.hk/en/en_ohs2021.html) for more information on the OHS 2021. read more