Tag Archives: China

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The main session of the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), was successfully concluded today (November 7). The event brought together around 300 international and regional leaders from 160 global financial institutions, with more than 90 institutions represented by their group chairmen or CEOs.

     Under the theme of “Living with Complexity”, the main summit today discussed the trends and changes that are reshaping the global financial industry, including the macroeconomic challenges posed by uncertain inflation trajectory, global growth headwinds and monetary tightening, as well as the evolving investment landscape. In addition, the speakers discussed the opportunities from three longer-term trends: Chinese economy, technology and sustainability. Mainland policymakers also shared insights into the conditions and future direction of the Chinese economy.

     The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, elaborated on the theme this year, “We are living through a period of complexity and uncertainty. I hope today’s discussion has provided insights and inspirations on how we can all rise above complexities and capture new opportunities in such an environment.” He added, “The HKMA – and Hong Kong more broadly – is a living proof of this spirit. As the HKMA celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, it is worth reflecting on the trials and tribulations that we have gone through, and how Hong Kong has grown as a global financial centre in the face of adversity. With the country’s support and trust, we will continue to promote the development of Hong Kong’s financial industry and contribute to our country’s future growth.”

     The event was attended in-person by global financial leaders across a broad range of segments, including banks, securities firms, asset owners, asset managers, private equity and venture capital firms, hedge funds and insurers. Live-streaming and replay was available on the HKMA’s website.

     The three-day Summit will conclude tomorrow (November 8) with the “Conversations with Global Investors” investment forum co-organised by the HKMA, the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Academy of Finance. The HKMA hosted a welcome dinner at the Hong Kong Palace Museum yesterday (November 6) to open the Summit.
 
     Attachment: Latest Summit Programme

     For more photos, please visit the HKMA website.

        

     The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a joint operation codenamed “Mungoshunt-3” with the Hong Kong Police Force and Guangdong Provincial authorities to combat non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants for three consecutive days from November 4 to November 6. During the operation, a total of 127 persons were arrested in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province.
      
     Officers from ImmD and Hong Kong Police Force had conducted territory-wide anti-illegal immigrant operation and raided the suspected hideouts of illegal immigrants. The ImmD had also mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations to step up enforcement actions against non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants. In addition, to combat illegal immigrants sneaking into Hong Kong by sea, Marine Police had collaborated with Mainland authorities to ramp up sea patrol and interception of suspicious vessels.
      
     During the operation, the ImmD joined forces with Hong Kong Police to conduct sudden raid at over 218 target locations and intercept 60 suspicious vessels and 990 persons, successfully seized two vessels and arrested 70 persons. For the arrested persons, two Mainlander illegal male immigrants aged 23 and 28 and one Indian male aged 29 holding recognizance form were arrested for “aiding and abetting others to land in Hong Kong unlawfully and remain in Hong Kong”. Twenty-two male illegal immigrants, consisting of two Mainlanders, nine Bangladeshis, seven Pakistanis, three Indians and one Vietnamese, aged 22 to 56, were arrested. During the anti-illegal worker operation, five Mainlanders and 31 non-ethnic Chinese were arrested for breach of recognizance’s condition, taking up unapproved employment and overstaying in Hong Kong respectively. Arrested Mainlanders consisted of one male and four female, age 38 to 59, while the 31 arrested non-ethnic Chinese consisted of six male and 25 female, age 23 to 50, among which seven were holders of recognizance forms issued by the ImmD, which prohibit them from taking up employment. During the operation, nine suspected employers were arrested, consisted of eight male and a female, age 36 to 79.
      
     Mainland authorities from Guangdong Province had arrested 57 persons, including seven arrangers and 50 non-ethnic Chinese intended to sneak into Hong Kong illegally, consisting 35 Bangladeshi, 12 Pakistani and three Indians.
      
     An ImmD spokesman said, “As stipulated in the Immigration Ordinance, ‘Arranging passage to Hong Kong of unauthorized entrants’ and ‘Assisting unauthorized entrant to remain’ are serious offences. Offenders arranging passage to Hong Kong of unauthorized entrants face a maximum fine of $5,000,000 and up to 14 years’ imprisonment while offenders assisting unauthorized entrant to remain face a maximum fine of $500,000 and up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The ImmD would continue to colloborate with Hong Kong Police Force and relevant department to step up enforcement actions and conduct joint operation to combat illegal immigration activities.”
      
     The spokesman said, “Any person who contravenes a condition of stay in force in respect of him or her shall be guilty of an offence. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years’ imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties.”
      
     The spokesman warned, “As stipulated in section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land is prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining in any business. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years’ imprisonment. Under the prevailing laws, it is an offence to use or possess a forged Hong Kong identity card. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”
      
     The spokesman reiterated that it is a serious offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. Under the Immigration Ordinance, the maximum penalty for an employer employing a person who is not lawfully employable, i.e. an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land, has been significantly increased from a fine of $350,000 and three years’ imprisonment to a fine of $500,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment to reflect the gravity of such offences. The director, manager, secretary, partner, etc, of the company concerned may also bear criminal liability. The High Court has laid down sentencing guidelines that the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence.
      
     According to the court sentencing, employers must take all practicable steps to determine whether a person is lawfully employable prior to employment. Apart from inspecting a prospective employee’s identity card, the employer has the explicit duty to make enquiries regarding the person and ensure that the answers would not cast any reasonable doubt concerning the lawful employability of the person. The court will not accept failure to do so as a defence in proceedings. It is also an offence if an employer fails to inspect the job seeker’s valid travel document if the job seeker does not have a Hong Kong permanent identity card. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and to imprisonment for one year. In that connection, the spokesman would like to remind all employers not to defy the law by employing illegal workers. The ImmD will continue to take resolute enforcement action to combat such offences.
      
     Under the existing mechanism, the ImmD will, as a standard procedure, conduct an initial screening of vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers, who are arrested during any operation with a view to ascertaining whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) victims. When any TIP indicator is revealed in the initial screening, the ImmD officers will conduct a full debriefing and identification by using a standardised checklist to ascertain the presence of TIP elements, such as threats and coercion in the recruitment phase and the nature of exploitation. Identified TIP victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent intervention, medical services, counselling, shelter or temporary accommodation and other supporting services. The ImmD calls on TIP victims to report crimes to the relevant departments immediately. read more

     Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit today (November 7):

è‚–é� ä¼�副局長 (Deputy Director of the National Administration of Financial Regulation Mr Xiao Yuanqi), Eddie (Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr Eddie Yue), distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

     Good afternoon. What a stimulating and hard-working morning. I know you all treasure this little lunch break and look forward to your main course. I will therefore keep my remarks brief.

     I wish to update you on two subjects. One relates to Hong Kong’s capital market development in terms of fund flows, and the other is about Hong Kong’s economy.

     On the first subject, it is about Hong Kong’s unique role in our country’s prudent and orderly opening of its capital market, enabling the Mainland’s capital to go global, as well as the internationalisation of the renminbi. In all these pursuits, Hong Kong’s connectivity and international facing are the key.

     On facilitating capital flow, allow me to highlight the recent enhancements to our Connect Schemes with the Mainland. As you all know, the Connect Scheme was first introduced back in November 2014, starting with the stock connect between Hong Kong and Shanghai. It was subsequently extended to Shenzhen. And in 2017, the Bond Connect was rolled out. In 2021, the Connect Scheme was extended to index futures contracts. In 2022, the inclusion of ETF Connect. And this year, there are a couple of important enhancements and developments.

     One is extending the Connect Schemes from products to more derivatives, meaning that they now cover stocks, bonds, ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and risk management products, like interest rate swaps and A50 index futures. From investors’ standpoint, this may not be sufficient for risk management purposes. Going forward, we will continue to work hard on other derivatives such as bond futures and A50 index options. 

     The second development is renminbi-denominated products. As some of you may know, on our stock exchange, 24 major stocks can now be traded in both Hong Kong dollar and renminbi at the same time. And what’s more, we are working very hard for what we call the RMB counter to be included in the Southbound Connect, so that Mainland investors can access these stocks by using their renminbi, without the need of incurring extra costs and currency risks. 

     With the endorsement from the Mainland authorities, we are also working with regulators to include more international companies listed on our stock exchange in the Southbound Connect. This is an important development. Consider that a company from the Middle East coming here for listing could then access both international and Mainland capitals. The liquidity for the stock would be significantly enhanced, which would also be reflected in its valuation.

     At the moment, we are trying hard to diversify the source of issuers and capital. Traditional markets like the US and Europe continue to be highly important. But in light of geopolitical tensions, we see a need for diversification too and are working hard to attract more quality issuers and capital to come, thus raising the liquidity of our stock market.

     The second subject I would like to cover is about Hong Kong’s economy. This year, despite the external headwinds, highly complex and changing circumstances, we expect our GDP growth to be over 3 per cent. While it is a little lower than what we would like to see, the recovery is sustaining. And with continuous improvements to the connectivity with the outside world, by having full resumption of international flights, more visitors will come to Hong Kong and more businesses will flow from that.

     For the short term, the major driver supporting our economic growth for the rest of this year, and probably for the first quarter next year, would continue to be export of services, i.e. inbound tourism, and private consumption. For the medium-term, financial services and innovation and technology (I&T), will be our twin engines of growth.

     Obviously, I don’t need to elaborate on financial services. On I&T, allow me to spend a few minutes. Over the past few years, the Hong Kong SAR Government has invested around HKD$200 billion into the I&T sector in order to build a vibrant ecosystem. That will attract more companies to come. And this is important to us not just for the economy’s sake, but also for creating more quality jobs for our people.

     In this regard, we have chosen four areas to focus our energy on. One is artificial intelligence and big data analytics. The second is health science and biotech. And the third one is Fintech. And finally new energy, new materials and advanced manufacturing. We know that nurturing a vibrant ecosystem takes time. To fast track this development, since December last year, we launched two new initiatives. One is to attract strategic businesses to settle in Hong Kong. The second is to attract talents. Since December last year till the end of September this year, we have managed to attract more than 30 companies to settle in Hong Kong. Altogether they will initially invest over HK$30 billion and create about 10 000 jobs, most of which would be research and managerial positions.

     And there are more companies in the pipeline. In this pursuit, we have made good use of our fiscal reserves, by establishing the Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC). HKIC will be a helpful tool in our negotiation with strategic enterprises. Of course we want these enterprises to have certain commitments on the levels of investment, employment, and the technologies that they will bring to Hong Kong. In return, if they want us to take a minority stake, so that we put money to where our mouth is, we are willing to do so.

     HKIC is now up and running. That is one part of HKIC’s responsibility. The other part is that through the HKIC, we dish out mandates to general partners, asking them to invest money into sectors that would be important to the longer term development of Hong Kong. 

     In terms of talent, since we launched the Top Talent Admission Scheme, and we relaxed and revised other talent admission schemes, up till the end of October, we have received over 180 000 applications, and approved over 110 000 of them. And in fact, over 70 000 of these talents have already arrived in Hong Kong.

     And we are facilitating them to settle into our community, including setting up a one-stop window to provide assistance in finding international school places, residences, etc. For the stamp duty in connection with acquiring their residences, we also have special arrangements in place. Talents will certainly expedite our economic development and make Hong Kong even more attractive to businesses.

     Finally, in the coming decade, we will be making massive investments in infrastructure. They will include not only land and housing supply, but also transport infrastructure, including projects that will enhance our connectivity with the Greater Bay Area (GBA). For those of you in the financial sector, this presents a huge opportunity. You are most welcome to co-invest and work with us.

     Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you, and let me express my heartfelt gratitude to you all for joining us in this event. We appreciate your support very much, and we do hope that apart from work, you do spend time to enjoy the city. Thank you.

    

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at a media session after attending the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit this afternoon (November 7): Reporter: What will be your me… read more

     As part of the Hong Kong Legal Week 2023, the Legal Forum on Interconnectivity and Development co-organised by the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) was held successfully today (November 7), attracting more than 700 judges, academics, government officials, and other legal professionals from over 50 jurisdictions, including countries situated along the Belt and Road route such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Cambodia.

     After a keynote address on the milestone of China’s legislation on foreign relations delivered by Dr Huang Huikang, a member of the United Nations International Law Commission, the Legal Forum discussed the joint construction of international economic and trade rules, development of dispute resolution for investment disputes and use of mediation in promoting high-quality Belt and Road co-operation, as well as consideration of Hong Kong’s role in strengthening legal safeguards under the Belt and Road Initiative.

     There were also important discussions on the avenues and legal instruments in addressing external challenges such as unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction as well as discriminatory measures, citing the case brought by Hong Kong, China against the United States (US) in relation to the origin marking requirement imposed on Hong Kong products by the US. There was also exchange on China’s foreign relations law and the extraterritorial application of Chinese law, and the role of private international law in promoting high standard of opening up of China.

     In delivering the welcome remarks for the event, the Acting Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the HKSAR, Mr Li Yongsheng, said that China is committed to upholding true multilateralism, and safeguarding the international-law-based international order. With the introduction of the Law on Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China and other legislation on foreign affairs, the depth and breadth of China’s opening up has expanded substantially, and the country’s ability to protect its national interests through the adoption of mentality and methods based on the rule of law has continued to strengthen. The interconnectedness and interaction between national laws and international law have been further enhanced, providing Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to the consolidation and development of new ideas and approaches to international exchanges and co-operation. As Hong Kong embarks on its journey from stability to prosperity and further integrates into China’s national development, such national strategies as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will bring new and major opportunities to Hong Kong to leverage its strengths in the rule of law. Hong Kong will certainly have great potential and achievements in its contribution to the construction of China’s foreign-related legal system. The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China will continue its staunch support for the Government of the HKSAR to administer its governance in accordance with the law, to respond to external risks and challenges based on the rule of law, in so promoting the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and bolstering the “one country, two systems” principle, which will continue to drive Hong Kong’s progress.

     When concluding the Legal Forum, the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, highlighted that the HKSAR, as an integral part of China, shares China’s resolute commitment to upholding the rule of law on a global scale and safeguarding the development interests through legal means. Under the principle of “one country, two systems”, the HKSAR’s open and independent judicial system and wealth of experienced legal professionals allow the city to serve as a “super connector” between the Mainland and rest of the world, providing an ideal business environment governed by the rule of law. The Secretary of Justice emphasised that the DoJ remains committed to developing the HKSAR as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region to support the Belt and Road Initiative and to contribute to higher-quality and higher-level development of Belt and Road co-operation.

     For more details on the Legal Week, please visit the dedicated website www.legalweek.hk. read more