Taking into consideration transportation service disruptions, and to ensure the safety of patients and staff members, the Department of Health today (November 13) announced that the operation arrangements of its methadone clini… read more
The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, together with the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee; the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan; and the Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, met the media today (November 13). Following is the transcript of remarks from the media session:
Reporter: Secretary, if the situation is so dangerous, why is the EDB (Education Bureau) not ordering a full class suspension? Is the Government simply trying to save face in not suspending classes? Second question, Secretary for Security, what do you make of comments that by storming university campuses that Hong Kong Government is trying to recreate Tiananmen June 4th incident, tending to murder students. What do you have to say on those comments?
Secretary for Education: I think when we consider whether we need to make special arrangements for schools, our first consideration is always the benefit of the students. I think that is the utmost important consideration that we have in mind. This morning, the traffic conditions in different districts are different, and I think every parent has their own consideration, their own situation that they have to consider. So, for the situation this morning, we think that our current system of allowing schools to make school-based decisions and parents to make the decision about whether their kids should go to school or not should be maintained.
Reporter: Isn’t the current situation more dangerous than (Typhoon) Mangkhut?
Secretary for Education: I think it is different from a typhoon situation, when the whole Hong Kong was under the influence or the impact (of the typhoon). But of course we will keep monitoring the overall situation and, if necessary, we will make necessary arrangements.
Secretary for Security: I think we should put things in the right perspective. What happened yesterday was at the bridge which leads to the Chinese University, the bridge overstands the Tolo Highway, and there were people overthrowing a lot of things into this main thoroughfare. It is a serious danger to public safety. Imagine somebody driving in that thoroughfare, and is obstructed or hit, then the consequence of a serious traffic accident resulting in serious death or injuries is something that we must take into consideration. The Police have a duty to ensure that this public safety is maintained. That is why they had to ensure that they would take charge of this bridge, which previously was occupied by the mobsters in order to control (the situation) so that there would be no more things being thrown into the thoroughfare. That is the first important thing. When they tried to do what they are required to do under the law to maintain public safety for the good of everybody using the thoroughfare, then they were under attack. And of course, you could see on television that petrol bombs were thrown at them, so they must act in order to maintain their position, and also to defend themselves. When something like this, which is so outrageously against the law with a lot of violence causing harm to the people there, particularly police officers, they (the Police) of course have to take action, and that is what we saw on television. So we have to put the things in the right perspective. Somebody broke the law by throwing things into the thoroughfare causing serious danger to road traffic and public safety, the Police had to take action, had to take charge of the bridge. They were then faced with attacks with petrol bombs, so they had to take the action, so that should be taken into the full perspective when we look at this incident.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more
The Home Affairs Department announced today (November 13) that due to special circumstances in various districts, the Home Affairs Enquiry Centres in all districts will be closed earlier at 5pm today. read more
German social enterprise The DO School announced today (November 13) that it has opened its Hong Kong campus as its regional headquarters, using the city’s global hub status to spread its influence across the Asia-Pacific region.
The DO School, founded in 2013, supports businesses, entrepreneurs and young talents in turning ideas into action, creating movements of change and enabling social impacts. With its unique methodology, it helps executives and other individuals enhance their innovative ability through various social and corporate engagement activities including top management meetings, intrapreneurship academies, co-creation sprints and more.
The Head of The DO School Hong Kong, Dr Anson Wong, said, “We already have partnered with various corporations and institutions on different projects here in Hong Kong. In order to nurture existing partnerships in the city and around the region, we decided to open our Hong Kong campus and use it as the focal point to manage all operations in this part of the world.”
Dr Wong added, “Hong Kong positions itself as a leading regional business centre and strategic hub for growth. It is a critical base for us to develop new programmes and explore new partnerships. The Hong Kong campus allows us to fully deliver programmes with a local team supported by our international network of experts and innovators.”
Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion Dr Jimmy Chiang said, “Hong Kong is a popular location for overseas and Mainland companies, as well as entrepreneurs from around the globe to set up or expand their business. This dynamic setting provides The DO School with plenty of opportunities to create specific programmes for corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who are looking for new solutions to their business challenges.”
About The DO School
Established in 2013, The DO School is a global organisation based in Berlin, Germany, that enables a purposeful economy that is sustainable and innovative. It has offices in New York, Berlin, Hamburg and Hong Kong. It has run programmes in over 30 countries, catalysed hundreds of new products and services, and impacted the lives of millions of people around the world. For more information, please visit www.thedoschool.com.
About Invest Hong Kong
Invest Hong Kong is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment and supporting overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk. read more
Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (November 13):
Question:
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has indicated that as the disposal of plastic bags rose again in two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017, it will review the effectiveness (including the charge amount and exemption issues) of the existing Plastic Shopping Bag Charging Scheme (Charging Scheme). On the other hand, currently there is no legislation regulating the use of disposable plastic products (including packaging materials, tableware and containers). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective quantities of waste plastics (i) disposed of at landfills and (ii) recovered, in each month between January last year and October this year, with a tabulated breakdown by type (including plastic bags, disposable tableware and packaging materials);
(2) of the progress of the EPD’s review of the Charging Scheme; whether the Government will consider taking measures which are more aggressive (e.g. a total ban on the use of plastic bags); if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the justifications for that;
(3) as some green groups have pointed out that since the problem of abusive use of packaging materials is serious, and it is difficult to recover and reuse such materials, packaging materials inflict more harm on the environment than plastic bags do, whether the Government has formulated measures to reduce the use of plastic packaging materials; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(4) whether it will consider including disposable plastic products in a producer responsibility scheme to require various parties such as manufacturers, sellers and consumers to share the cost of handling related waste, with a view to achieving reduction of waste plastics at source; if so, of the details; if not, the justifications for that; and
(5) as it is learnt that quite a number of countries have implemented or will implement a timetable for a gradual ban on the use of plastic products which are disposable or difficult to recover, whether the Government will draw up a timetable on reduction of waste plastics; if so, of the details; if not, the justifications for that?
Reply:
President,
Environmental pollution by plastic products, in particular, marine pollution, has become a topic of concern in recent years. To alleviate its impact on ecology and environment, the Government will continue to adopt a multi-pronged approach by taking forward initiatives on various fronts, e.g. introducing legislation and policies, strengthening education on and support to community, etc., in order to promote a “plastic-free” culture, minimise the use of one-off disposable plastics and create a circular economy for plastic materials. To this end, concerted effort by the Government, various trades and the general public is required to achieve a more satisfactory outcome in tackling the challenges posed by waste plastics.
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Kenneth Leung is as follows:
(1) The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) compiles statistics on waste plastics disposed of at landfills based on findings of an annual survey. Due to limitation in data collection, we are unable to provide the disposal figures on a monthly basis and can only provide the average monthly figures. In 2017, the average monthly quantities of waste plastics disposed of were as follows:
| Plastics | Average monthly disposal quantity (tonnes) |
| Plastic bags | 24 120 |
| Plastic tableware | 5 040 |
| Polyfoam – tableware | 1 180 |
| Polyfoam – others | 1 350 |
| Non-polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles | 2 190 |
| PET plastic bottles | 4 150 |
| Others (Note) | 26 560 |
| Total | 64 590 |