Following the conclusion of the public consultation on proposals to amend the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO) (Cap. 615), the Government published today (May 21) a paper outlining the views received during the consultation, its responses and conclusions on the way forward.
 
     By the end of the consultation period running from November 3, 2020, to January 31, 2021, the Government received a total of 79 submissions on the proposals, which seek to introduce (a) a licensing regime for virtual asset services providers; (b) a registration regime for dealers in precious metals and stones; and (c) miscellaneous technical amendments under the AMLO.
 
     "We are pleased to note that the respondents generally agreed with the overall direction and principles as well as the broad framework of the legislative proposals. Having regard to the valuable comments and suggestions from respondents, we will fine-tune the legislative proposals as appropriate to address stakeholders' concerns," a Government spokesman said.
    
     The Government will proceed to prepare the amendment bill based on the consultation conclusions, with a view to introducing the amendment bill into the Legislative Council in the 2021-22 legislative session.
 
     The consultation conclusions have been uploaded to the website of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau at www.fstb.gov.hk/fsb/en/publication/consult/consult_amlo.html.

     The Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, today (May 21) visited Pui Tak Canossian College in Aberdeen to learn about its anti-epidemic work.

     Taking into account the latest developments of the epidemic, advice of health experts and preparedness of schools, the Education Bureau announced earlier that all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools (including special schools and schools offering a non-local curriculum) as well as private schools offering a non-formal curriculum (commonly known as "tutorial schools") would fully resume half-day face-to-face classes from next Monday (May 24).

     During the visit, Mr Yeung was briefed by the Principal, Ms Wong Siu-ling, on the school's anti-epidemic work. He also inspected the related measures being put in place on the campus, including body temperature checks, seating arrangements in classrooms, and lesson arrangements and operations in relation to the epidemic.

     Meanwhile, the Principal and teachers updated him on the latest developments of civic education in the school. He met and exchanged views with the winning students of the Outstanding Student Citizen Award and the Hong Kong Island Outstanding Student Award as well as teachers admitted to the InnoPower@JC: Fellowship for Teachers. The students and teachers also shared their thoughts about joining and promoting civic education activities.

     Mr Yeung called on all students in Hong Kong to treasure the opportunities of on-campus schooling and interactive learning with classmates, and adapt to the changes and adjust their daily lives gradually with positive and proactive attitudes. Parents and schools should also enhance home-school co-operation to care about the physical and mental health of students and offer support to them.

     As the epidemic situation may remain unstable, he reiterated that should there be any confirmed case of COVID-19 or outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections in individual schools, the schools concerned still have to suspend classes temporarily and carry out thorough cleaning in accordance with health advice. Teaching staff and students will also be required to undergo compulsory testing for the sake of safety.

     The Government has earlier expanded the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme and the minimum age for receiving a vaccine is 16. So far more than 2 million doses of vaccine have been administered. Mr Yeung encouraged eligible persons (including teaching staff and students) to get vaccinated as early as possible to protect themselves and others, so as to achieve herd immunity to enhance the safety of the community, families and schools.

      

     In response to media enquiries regarding the temporary suspension of operations of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office (Taiwan) (HKETCO), a spokesman for the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (May 21) said:
 
     Hong Kong-Taiwan relations are a special component of the cross-Strait relations. Since Hong Kong's return to the Motherland, the Government of the HKSAR has fostered and developed Hong Kong-Taiwan relations in a pragmatic and steady manner. In 2010, the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Promotion Council (ECCPC) was established as a non-official platform for discussing co-operation between Hong Kong and Taiwan, with an aim of enabling positive interactions between the two places. The HKETCO commenced operation in Taipei in December 2011 to promote economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan, in accordance with the "1992 Consensus".
 
     In recent years, Taiwan has grossly interfered in Hong Kong's affairs on repeated occasions and created irretrievable damage to Hong Kong-Taiwan relations. Most notably, Taiwan has launched the so-called "Hong Kong Aid Project" and unilaterally established the so-called "Taiwan-Hong Kong Office for Exchanges and Services" under the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council (THEC), offering assistance to violent protesters and people who tried to shatter Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. The provocative acts of Taiwan are inconsistent with the goal of the ECCPC and the THEC, which is to promote exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and Taiwan, and also go against the founding purpose of the THEC. The Government of the HKSAR expresses utmost regret over Taiwan's actions.
 
     Taiwan's series of actions in recent years has severely damaged Hong Kong-Taiwan relations, gradually jeopardising the operating environment for the HKETCO in Taiwan. On the other hand, staff members of the HKETCO have been threatened by radicals in Taiwan. These circumstances have posed uncertainties for the staff members and narrowed the room for promoting Hong Kong-Taiwan exchanges in various areas. As the HKETCO could hardly fulfil its founding purpose, and to protect the safety and rights of its Hong Kong staff members, the Government of the HKSAR has eventually decided to temporarily suspend the operations of the HKETCO. All Hong Kong staff members have already left Taiwan and returned to Hong Kong.
 
     We will closely monitor the development of the situation and consider the way forward for the HKETCO in a holistic manner. During the HKETCO's temporary suspension of operations, the Government of the HKSAR will continue to handle general enquiries and requests for assistance made by Hong Kong residents in Taiwan, as well as provide Taiwan residents with information related to Hong Kong, through the hotline services of 1823 and 1868 and the GovHK website.
 
     The Government of the HKSAR reiterates that it will continue to handle matters related to Hong Kong-Taiwan relations in accordance with the Basic Law of the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China, the one-China principle as well as the Basic Principles and Policies of the Central Government regarding the Handling of Taiwan-related Matters in Hong Kong.

     The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) announced today (May 21) the launch of a new personalised weather website to facilitate ethnic minorities' access to local weather information.

     In addition to traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese and English, the new website provides basic weather information, including the latest weather reports, weather warnings, nine-day weather forecasts, tropical cyclone tracks and radar, satellite and lightning imagery in eight ethnic minority languages, namely Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Nepali, Urdu, Tagalog, Thai, Punjabi and Vietnamese.

     The Director of the HKO, Dr Cheng Cho-ming, remarked that ethnic minorities can gain access to weather information in their own languages through the new website, and such information will be conducive to their planning of daily activities and advance preparation for weather changes.

     The HKO has consulted relevant ethnic minority representatives and the Centre for Harmony and Enhancement of Ethnic Minority Residents (CHEER) funded by the Home Affairs Department on the design of the new website. CHEER's Centre-in-charge, Ms Katherine Shum, welcomed the launch of the new personalised weather website by the HKO. She pointed out that the new website would help ethnic minorities living in Hong Kong understand the latest weather conditions and assist them to adapt to local life.

     The new personalised weather website adopts a responsive web design that automatically adjusts the layout for different devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices, to provide a better user experience. The website also allows users to customise the information to be displayed according to their preferences.

     Members of the public are welcome to visit the new personalised weather website at my.weather.gov.hk/personalized-website/english.

  

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (May 21) released the latest grading of water quality for 38 gazetted beaches (see Note 1) and one non-gazetted beach (i.e. Discovery Bay, see Note 2).     
 
     Twenty-eight beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1), 10 as Fair (Grade 2) and one as Poor (Grade 3).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:         

 
Grade 2 beaches are:

 
Grade 3 beach is:

 
     Compared with the grading released last week, Discovery Bay has been upgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 1. Approach Beach and Butterfly Beach have been changed from Grade 1 to Grade 2.
 
     "The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of the beaches,” an EPD spokesman said.
 
     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades, namely Good (Grade 1), Fair (Grade 2), Poor (Grade 3) and Very Poor (Grade 4), according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
 
     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend. The latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the EPD's website on Beach Water Quality (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.
 
Note 1: The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has resumed lifeguard services at 16 gazetted beaches, marked with an asterisk above, from April 16.
 
Note 2: Discovery Bay is a non-gazetted beach without lifeguard service.