The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, will leave for Beijing this evening (August 14).
Mr Chan will have a meeting with the China Railway Corporation in the morning on August 16 and return to Hong Kong in the afternoon.
During his absence, the Under Secretary for Transport and Housing, Dr Raymond So Wai-man, will be the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing.
Hong Kong Customs yesterday (August 13) seized about 316 kilograms of suspected smuggled dried abalone with an estimated market value of about $1.9 million at Man Kam To Control Point.
Customs officers intercepted two outgoing private cars at Man Kam To Control Point yesterday morning. Upon inspection, Customs officers found the above dried abalone on board the vehicles. A 32-year-old male driver, a 53-year-old female driver and two male passengers, aged 20 and 49, were arrested.
Investigations are ongoing and the arrested persons have been released on bail pending further investigation.
Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs' 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk).
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) deeply regrets the hosting of a luncheon talk today (August 14) by the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) for an invited speaker to advocate the independence of Hong Kong.
A Government spokesman said, "It is totally inappropriate and unacceptable for any person to openly promote and advocate the independence of Hong Kong.
"As such, it is also totally inappropriate and unacceptable for any organisation to provide a public platform to espouse such views.
"The Basic Law clearly stipulates that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China. Advocating Hong Kong's independence is a blatant violation of the Basic Law and a direct affront to the national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the People's Republic of China.
"Such advocacy runs counter to the successful implementation of 'one country, two systems' and undermines the HKSAR's constitutional and legal foundations as enshrined in the Basic Law."
The spokesman said the HKSAR Government attaches great importance to freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which underpin the success of Hong Kong as an open, vibrant, pluralistic and international city. These are protected by the Basic Law. But such freedoms are not absolute and have to be exercised in accordance with the law.
"We have continuously supported the FCC's work over the decades. However, providing a public platform for a speaker to openly advocate independence completely disregards Hong Kong's constitutional duty to uphold national sovereignty. It is totally unacceptable and deeply regrettable."
Attention duty announcers, radio and TV stations,
Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at suitable intervals:
The Tourism Commission announces that due to the issuing of Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 3 by the Hong Kong Observatory, "A Symphony of Lights" will be cancelled tonight (August 14).
​Two drivers who were involved in illegal roadside dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) and commercial and industrial (C&I) waste in Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi were fined a total of $50,000 by Fanling Magistrates' Courts today (August 14) for contravening the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO).
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has all along been committed to combating illegal waste disposal. In Kwai Tsing District, round-the-clock surveillance camera systems have been installed at the district's fly-tipping black spots such as factories, mini-storage facilities and remote areas since 2015 to facilitate evidence collection and enforcement action. In February and March this year, the EPD successfully traced five illegal fly-tipping cases by using the vehicle information captured by the surveillance camera systems at Chun Pin Street in Kwai Chung and Hong Wan Road in Tsing Yi. At the Kwai Chung black spot, a driver was found dumping mud debris and household waste four times in about one week. The EPD subsequently prosecuted the persons involved under the WDO after evidence gathering.
The EPD spokesperson reminded construction workers (including those carrying out minor renovation works) and members of the transportation and logistics sector that C&D waste as well as C&I waste should be delivered to the Government's waste treatment facilities for proper disposal in accordance with legal requirements. It is unethical and unlawful to dispose of waste in public places and on the roadside, as it obstructs pedestrians and could cause traffic accidents. First-time offenders under the WDO are liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months' imprisonment.