The Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Wuhan (WHETO), Mr Vincent Fung, officiated at the opening ceremony of the Henan Liaison Unit (HALU)'s new office and attended "Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening Up cum Spring Reception for Hong Kong Residents in Henan Province 2019" held by the HALU this afternoon (March 13) in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The reception was attended by more than 150 Hong Kong people working, operating businesses and studying in Henan, as well as other guests.

     Speaking at the event, Mr Fung said that in 2018 the opening of the Hong Kong Section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the introduction of the Regulations for Application of Residence Permit for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Residents greatly boosted the connections between the Mainland and Hong Kong. The year also marked the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up, providing an opportunity to look back on the remarkable achievements. Looking forward, he said that there will be further good news for Hong Kong, such as the gradual development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the recent Budget initiatives which will benefit the public. The HALU will continue to act as the bridge for the connection between Hong Kong and Henan and promote the co-operation between the two places on various fronts.

     During the reception in Zhengzhou, Mr Fung spoke with representatives of the provincial and municipal governments of Henan. He also talked with Hong Kong people who live, operate businesses and study in Henan to learn more about their experiences there and the latest developments in the province.

     Tomorrow (March 14), Mr Fung will officiate in the opening ceremony of the "Exhibition on the 40th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening Up cum Exhibition on Hong Kong Photos" and visit a Hong Kong enterprise in Zhengzhou before heading to Luoyang for an official visit.

    

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
 
     Legislative Council (LegCo) Members conduct site visits to various shopping centres, markets and carparks of public housing estates and Home Ownership Scheme today (March 13) and tomorrow (March 14) to follow up on complaints put forward by deputations relating to the further sale of these facilities by Link Real Estate Investment Trust (Link).
 
     In 2005, the Hong Kong Housing Authority divested 180 properties, including shopping centres, markets and carparks of public housing estates through Link (previously known as The Link Real Estate Investment Trust). The deputations worry that further sale of these properties by Link in recent years would induce further rental increases. They have also expressed concerns about the tenancy arrangements following Link's further sale of the shopping centres and markets. Hence, they lodge complaints with LegCo Members.
 
     Accompanied by representatives of the Housing Department and the Lands Department, Members visited Lei Cheng UK Shopping Centre and Lai Kok Shopping Centre in Sham Shui Po, Tai Wo Hau Commercial Centre and Carpark in Tsuen Wan and Yau Oi Market in Tuen Mun today. During the site visit, Members took the opportunity to exchange views with the deputations and business tenants to understand more about their concerns.
 
     Members who participated in the visit today were Mr Andrew Wan (Convenor), Mrs Regina Ip, Ms Alice Mak, Dr Kwok Ka-ki, Dr Fernando Cheung, Mr Eddie Chu, Ms Yung Hoi-yan, Dr Cheng Chung-tai and Mr Au Nok-hin.

      

     The Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, visited Islands District this afternoon (March 13) to learn more about the law and order situation there and the livelihood conditions of the local community. He also called at an integrated services centre in the district.
 
      Accompanied by the District Officer (Islands), Mr Anthony Li, Mr Lee first met with the Chairman of the Islands District Council (IDC), Mr Chow Yuk-tong, and IDC members to exchange views on issues relating to the local law and order situation and people's livelihood.
 
      Mr Lee then visited the Tung Chung Integrated Services Centre of the Neighbourhood Advice-Action Council. The Centre offers one-stop services and diversified activities to young people, schoolchildren, families and the elderly in the district. Services provided by the Centre include counselling and support services for youth, after-school care services for primary students, and day care services for the elderly.
 
      After listening to a briefing on the Centre's facilities and services, Mr Lee chatted with local young people, including non-Chinese speaking youths, at the Centre to learn about their daily life, interests and future aspirations.
       
      Mr Lee said he was pleased to learn that the young people had adopted a positive attitude towards life, and he encouraged them to participate more in community activities and to serve the community.
 

        

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, at a media session after visiting Islands District Council this afternoon (March 13):
 
Reporter: The (former) Vice Minister of Public Security told RTHK that Mainland China has 300 fugitives in Hong Kong. Do you know the number? How many fugitives from Mainland China are actually in Hong Kong? How many those from Hong Kong are in Mainland China currently? The second question is that the Taiwan Legislative Council passed the motion yesterday that they required extradition agreement to be applicable to cases only between Hong Kong and Taiwan. How do you respond to that? And previously the Bar Association suggested that for the Taiwan case……? 
 
Secretary for Security: Can we deal with the questions one by one. I think we need to give a fair chance to each one. Can I deal with your questions one by one? So the question is in relation to comments by a public official in the Mainland. First of all, at present, we do not have a long-term surrender of fugitive agreement with the Mainland. We are still working on it. The process of working on a long-term agreement has not stopped at all. It is something we are still working on. One thing that is important to notice as I have mentioned earlier that the long-term agreement is the principal method of surrender of fugitives. So we will work along that principal to try to get a long-term agreement with the Mainland. But that, of course, will be something that eventually to be materialised for the LegCo (Legislative Council) to debate on.
 
     As we do not now have an agreement with the Mainland, so I do not have a figure of the number of possible fugitives who are hiding in Hong Kong, because there is no such law and therefore      
I do not have the figure.
 
     What is your second question?
 
Reporter: The Taiwan Legislative Council passed a motion yesterday requiring that the extradition agreement should have a separate agreement with Hong Kong instead of Taiwan being handled as just one of the jurisdictions?
 
Secretary for Security: What I am trying to do now is to amend our Hong Kong domestic law, so that the restrictions which prohibit me to talk with Taiwan will be lifted. If that proposal is passed, then I will not be prohibited by law to go to talk with the Taiwan side. In fact the Taiwan side has already raised their requests to Hong Kong, both for offering assistance and to handover the suspect. There has been a warrant of arrest issued in Taiwan. The case happened in February last year. Since that time, the Police and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have been aiming at trying to prosecute the suspect for possible murder, conspiracy to murder, or even planning to murder in Hong Kong, using Hong Kong law. It was in August that upon legal advice, that the evidence will not be sufficient to do such a prosecution. And thanks to the colleagues of DoJ and SB (Security Bureau), they have been working hard to look for a solution which will allow us to do it. They have looked around the laws in other jurisdictions and that is why they have found the present practice in the UK and Canada are good models for us to follow. Their method of doing this has been in practice for almost or even over 40 years and it has been implemented smoothly. So that is the proposal that we are doing. If the Security Bureau's proposal is passed, that means I am not legally forbidden to go to talk to Taiwan. Basically, it is to lift the restriction on us. In fact, we have been communicating with the Taiwan side. On the principle of mutual respect, on the principle of dealing with the case according to the case merits, I think with both sides working hard, putting politics aside, we should be able to do justice which is lacking in this case.
                 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, after officiating at the inauguration ceremony of the Academy for Leadership in Teacher Education at the University of Hong Kong today (March 13).
 
Reporter: (concerning TWGHs Leo Tung-hai Lee Primary School) Can you explain why the Bureau did not follow up on the complaint regarding the same school last year in July? Is such a mechanism giving too much power to the school and will the government try to be more hands-on in the management of schools to avoid abuse of power by the school management?
 
Secretary for Education: As I explained, school-based management is a mechanism that we think that it's better for some of the school's daily operations and decisions to be managed at the school level through the school board (Incorporated Management Committee) i.e. with participation of different stakeholders including the school sponsoring bodies, parents, teachers and alumni as well. We believe that some of the decisions, especially involving the teaching and learning and the daily operations, that would be better handled by the school level rather than being handled at the government level. That said, all the complaints relating to the Education Ordinance and the Codes of Aid will be handled by the Education Bureau in accordance with the requirements in the law. Also, all complaints from the staff or teachers against the schools, especially for example the board or the principals, if they complain to us, we will handle the case according to our internal procedures. In handling the case, we sometimes have to seek information from the schools otherwise we won’t have all the available information to make a good judgement, so simply asking the school for more information does not imply that we have let the school to handle the complaint totally and in the past we had not shirked our responsibility at all.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)