Tag Archives: China

     Three charities have been issued Public Subscription Permits to hold flag sales from 7am to 12.30pm today (October 14). They are, on Hong Kong Island, Methodist Epworth Village Community Centre, Social Welfare; in Kowloon, Life Commitment Charity Club Limited; and in the New Territories, Association of Hong Kong Flag-Guards Limited, a spokesman for the Social Welfare Department (SWD) said.
      
     Arrangements have been made with the charities to help people to distinguish among the three flag-selling activities.
      
     Information on the three flag-selling organisations on October 14 is as follows:
 

Region	Name of organisation	Colour of collection bag	Colour of flag
Hong Kong Island	Methodist Epworth Village Community Centre, Social Welfare	Green	Pink
Kowloon	Life Commitment Charity Club Limited	Pink	White
New Territories	Association of Hong Kong Flag-Guards Limited	Orange	Light Blue

 
     Details of the charitable fund-raising activities, including any updated information, covered by the issued Public Subscription Permits have been published on the GovHK website (www.gov.hk/en/theme/fundraising/search). Permits for flag days containing information on contact methods of the flag-selling organisations and the approved flag-selling activities have also been uploaded to the SWD’s website (www.swd.gov.hk/en/ngo/controlofc/flagdays) for reference. For enquiries, please call the SWD’s hotline at 2343 2255, or the designated hotline of the 1823 Call Centre at 3142 2678.
      
     In the case of suspected fraudulent flag day activities, people should not make any donation and should immediately report the matter to the Police, the spokesman added. read more

     The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, and the Secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, Mr Xin Changxing, leading the delegations of the governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Jiangsu respectively, held the High-Level Meeting cum Signing Ceremony of Hong Kong/Jiangsu Co-operation Agreements in Hong Kong today (October 13). Mr Lee and Mr Xin jointly witnessed the signing of a number of co-operation agreements between Hong Kong and Jiangsu for promoting and deepening joint developments and strengthening complementarity and mutual benefits.

     Mr Lee said that both Hong Kong and Jiangsu are important to the country’s high-quality development. Jiangsu is a major economic province of the country and plays an important role in the development strategies of integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Hong Kong is one of the core cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and has the distinctive advantages of “one country, two systems” as well as enjoying strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world. Hong Kong’s “eight centres” under the National 14th Five-Year Plan complements Jiangsu’s development positioning of “one centre, one base, one hub”. Deepening co-operation between the two places will surely create greater, more and better development opportunities.

     Hong Kong and Jiangsu reached consensus in 12 co-operation areas including:

The “Belt and Road” Initiative
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     Support and encourage Jiangsu enterprises to use Hong Kong as a platform for making overseas investments and setting up headquarters and capital management centres.
 
     Organise Jiangsu enterprises to participate in the “Belt and Road” Summit in Hong Kong and jointly organise activities such as the Belt and Road Salon with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for jointly developing third-party markets and achieving mutual benefits through co-operation.

Finance
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     Support the finance departments and financial institutions of both sides to forge ahead with personnel and business exchanges, and co-operation in respect of the “Belt and Road” initiative, green finance, digital finance, fintech, capital markets, etc.
 
     Encourage Jiangsu enterprises to use Hong Kong’s financial market for listing, issuing bonds and financing in Hong Kong in order to promote the deep integration of Jiangsu’s economy and Hong Kong’s financial resources. 

Innovation and technology
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     Support Jiangsu in strengthening co-operation between the High-tech Industrial Development Zone, industrial technology research institute and enterprises in Jiangsu, and research and development organisations and innovation and technology platforms in Hong Kong, for exploring the setting up of joint scientific, research and innovation facilities, offshore innovation centres or innovation spaces.
 
     Support Hong Kong higher education institutions to set up innovation co-operation carriers in Jiangsu for technology incubation and transfer, etc. Organise Jiangsu enterprises to participate in activities such as InnoEX, Start-up Express, etc to facilitate the exchange, transformation and realisation of technology of both sides.

Trade and industry
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      Support Hong Kong-funded enterprises and Hong Kong head offices of multinational corporations to increase investment and set up regional head offices or functional organisations in Jiangsu. Support Hong Kong-funded enterprises to participate in the cultivation and construction of key clusters in Jiangsu for technological transformation, and encourage Hong Kong-funded enterprises to undergo artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
 
     Support the intellectual property related organisations, personnel and enterprises in Jiangsu and Hong Kong to participate in activities such as exchange sessions and forums in the two places for promoting intellectual property commercialisation and intellectual property trading.

Construction and modern service industry
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     Strengthen the co-operation in constructing a barrier-free environment. Promote the co-operation and exchange between the governments, associations and enterprises of both sides in respect of talent, technology, management, etc in the construction industry.
 
     Take advantage of Jiangsu’s focus on advanced manufacturing industries and Hong Kong’s strength in globalised service industries to promote the complementarity of the “two industries” in the two places. Proactively explore and develop new business models for the service industry, and promote the migration of capital and operation to the high-end service industry.

Legal services
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     Support the implementation of the trial scheme on law firm partnership in Jiangsu under which the law firms in the two places can enter into partnerships and establish branches, and encourage Jiangsu’s law firms to engage Hong Kong legal practitioners as legal advisers.

     Support Jiangsu mediation and arbitration institutions to connect and establish co-operative relations with Hong Kong mediation and arbitration institutions to provide professional and international commercial arbitration and mediation services for the enterprises in the two places.

Education
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     Support the establishment of a co-operative alliance of Jiangsu, Hong Kong and Macao; encourage the higher education institutions to carry out educational exchange and co-operation; and strengthen personnel training, teacher exchanges, academic research, etc.   

     Encourage secondary and primary schools in the two places to form sister school pairs for conducting diversified exchange activities. Support vocational schools and enterprises in the two places to carry out projects such as joint student training and school-enterprise co-operation.
 
Culture and tourism
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     Develop cultural exchange and co-operation projects of Jiangsu and Hong Kong; support both sides to carry out culture and art exchange activities such as theatrical performances, intangible cultural heritage performances and art exhibitions; and motivate cultural organisations in the two places to conduct academic exchanges, exhibit exchanges and exhibition tours.

     Strengthen regional tourism exchanges and co-operation between Jiangsu and Hong Kong; support the promotion of cultural tourism in the two places and develop specific markets such as business exhibitions, leisure vacations, educational tours, etc.

Health and hygiene
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     Support medical personnel in the two places to conduct study exchanges; enhance academic and talent exchanges in Chinese medicine between the two places, and strengthen co-operation in the field of international standardisation of Chinese medicine.

     Support Hong Kong to conduct “Asia Summit on Global Health” and organise relevant units and enterprises to participate in the event. Strengthen co-operation and exchanges of both sides in respect of public health, infectious disease prevention and control, health emergency response, public hospital management and health promotion.

Exchange of talent 
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     Encourage Hong Kong high-level talent to participate in Jiangsu’s support scheme for high-level talent. Enable Hong Kong young talent engaging in innovative and entrepreneurial activities in Jiangsu to enjoy various talent policies stipulated by the country and Jiangsu, entrepreneurship project support, financing support, use of production and business premises, etc.

     Organise study activities in Jiangsu for the national studies programme for civil servants of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR Government) for sharing management experience in public services and professional knowledge.

Youth development
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     Support relevant organisations in Jiangsu and Hong Kong to deepen the exchanges and co-operation in various areas for youths in the two places. Support Hong Kong youths to start businesses in Jiangsu; and strengthen Jiangsu and Hong Kong (International) Innovation and Entrepreneurial Bases to build a professional platform of innovation and entrepreneurship for Hong Kong youths.
 
     The HKSAR Government supports a certain number of Hong Kong youths to go to Jiangsu each year for exchange and taking part in innovative and entrepreneurial activities under the Youth Development Fund or by mobilising social capital.
 
Facilitation for Hong Kong people in the Mainland
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     Jiangsu fully implements the policies and measures introduced by the relevant Central Government departments to facilitate the development of Hong Kong and Macao residents in the Mainland; supports the work of Hong Kong organisations in Jiangsu; and protects the rights of Hong Kong people in Jiangsu in respect of basic public services stipulated by the country and their place of residence.

Signing ceremony of co-operation agreements
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      At the meeting, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, and Vice Governor of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government Mr Fang Wei signed the “Co-operation Agreement between the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region on Deepening the Exchange of Jiangsu and Hong Kong”. The document (Chinese only) is at Annex 1.

     In addition, five co-operation agreements were signed by government departments and organisations of the two places:
 

• “Memorandum of Understanding between the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education and the Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”;
• “Memorandum of Understanding between Jiangsu Youth Federation and the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Jointly Deepening Youth Exchange and Development Co-operation”;
• “Memorandum of Understanding between Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology and the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Launching Innovation and Technology Co-operation.”;
• “Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province and Invest Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”; and
• “Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province and Hong Kong Trade Development Council on Deepening Economic and Trade Co-operation”.

     The “Memorandum of Understanding between the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education and the Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, “Memorandum of Understanding between Jiangsu Youth Federation and the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Jointly Deepening Youth Exchange and Development Co-operation”, “Memorandum of Understanding between Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology and the Innovation and Technology Commission of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Launching Innovation and Technology Co-operation”, and “Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Commerce of Jiangsu Province and Invest Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” (Chinese only) signed by the HKSAR Government bureaux and departments and Jiangsu are at Annex 2 , Annex 3, Annex 4 and Annex 5 respectively.

     Officials of the HKSAR Government accompanying the Chief Executive to attend the signing ceremony include the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau; the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin; the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak; and the Director of the Chief Executive’s Office, Ms Carol Yip, etc. read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:      The spokesman for Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) made the following appeal today (October 13) regarding a patient who left the hospital without prior notifi… read more

     The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) held its 17th Technology Forum at the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) today (October 13) and announced that the one-stop personalised digital services platform “iAM Smart” has been awarded two ISO certifications. The forum, under the theme “‘iAM Smart’: An Enabler to Better Serve Citizens and Businesses”, attracted over 500 participants from government departments and innovative and technology (I&T) sector.

     The OGCIO announced in the forum that the “iAM Smart” services have passed the relevant certification audits of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) and Privacy Information Management System (PIMS), and have been awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 certifications respectively. The Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Tony Wong, said at the certification presentation ceremony, “The recognition of ‘iAM Smart’ being awarded international standard certifications in both information security and privacy management will strengthen the confidence of the public in using ‘iAM Smart’, and encourage more online service providers to deliver safe and reliable online services through the platform, allowing the public to use the services with ease.”

     ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 27701:2019 are international standards for information security management systems and privacy information management systems formulated by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, which aim to provide a comprehensive framework that outlines the requirements related to the establishment, implementation, maintenance and continuous improvement of the system. The accreditation bestowed to “iAM Smart” services confirms that the OGCIO has formulated and implemented comprehensive information security and privacy management measures, and has adopted integrated management processes to ensure that relevant measures could meet the requirements of the certifications consistently.

     During the forum, the OGCIO also introduced the latest progress of the comprehensive upgrade of the “iAM Smart” platform, including the newly launched “iAM Smart” version 3.1.0 which allows users to instantly browse various kinds of practical daily information, as well as other new features to be launched gradually next year, such as simplifying the registration process; listing online services of different categories by service themes; simplifying the service usage process; and using the “Consented Data Exchange Gateway” to enable the public to authorise the use of information collected by other departments when accessing different services, obviating their needs to input or submit the same information repeatedly.

     Mr Wong also expressed his gratitude to 28 information technology (IT) solution providers who have provided system development support to various projects adopting “iAM Smart”, recognising their contributions and support in promoting wider adoption of “iAM Smart” in public services. For details of the “iAM Smart” IT solutions and service providers, please visit 
(www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/our_work/business/community/iamsmart-it-services-providers/).

     Since its launch in late 2020, “iAM Smart” has nearly 2.4 million registrations. Providing users with a reliable identity verification function, “iAM Smart” enables them to access 300 government, public and private online services, conduct online transactions and perform digital signing with legal backing in an easy and secure way. The Government has been committed to promoting the upgrade of “iAM Smart”, with the objective to provide one-stop digital services by fully adopting “iAM Smart” in 2025 and realise the goal of a “single portal for online government services”.

     Today’s Technology Forum was organised by the Smart Government Innovation LAB (Smart LAB) under the OGCIO in collaboration with the HKPC, Cyberport and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation. In today’s Forum, 11 technology companies shared their “iAM Smart” solutions and products to help government departments keep abreast of the latest trends. Representatives from the OGCIO and the Education Bureau also shared examples of how to enhance public services through “iAM Smart”.

     Since its establishment in 2019, the Smart LAB has been actively connecting government departments with the I&T sector, particularly local start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, to foster a close partnership between the two sides. The Smart Lab regularly organises different promotional activities, including Technology Forums and technology exchange workshops for government departments and the industry, with a view to encouraging and helping government departments to introduce and apply innovative technology products and solutions, which could in turn facilitate more business matching, achieving a win-win situation. 

     The technology forums so far have attracted over 6 000 participants from more than 60 different bureaux and departments, and about 600 public and private organisations and enterprises. For more details, please visit the thematic website www.smartlab.gov.hk/en/index.xhtml.

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      The Special Investigation Section of the Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations codenamed “Fireblade” from October 10 to 12 and successfully neutralised an illegal worker syndicate. A total of five syndicate members, 20 suspected illegal workers and eight suspected employers were arrested.
 
      During the investigation into a case of illegal employment earlier this year, it was noted that a cleaning company had undertaken cleaning contracts with a number of restaurants and provided illegal workers to take up illegal employment at the restaurants. After months of investigation and intelligence analysis, the ImmD successfully identified a syndicate specialising in undertaking outsourced cleaning contracts with restaurants, claiming to provide lawfully employable workers while recruiting illegal workers at a lower cost to profit from it. The ImmD believed that the syndicate had operated for more than six months. Over 50 restaurants were involved and the value of outsourced contracts ranged from HK$20,000 to HK$50,000. It is estimated that the total amount of transaction handled by this syndicate exceeded HK$17 million.
 
      During the operation, the ImmD had raided a total of 16 premises, including four residential premises and 12 restaurants, and arrested a total of 33 persons, including five syndicate members aged 25 to 64. The ImmD had also apprehended 20 suspected illegal workers and eight suspected employers during the operation. The arrested suspected illegal workers comprises six men and 14 women, aged 23 to 55. Among them, two persons were holders of recognizance forms, which prohibit them from taking any employment. During the operation, three forged Hong Kong identity cards were unearthed and a considerable number of items were seized including bank statements, employment contracts, mobile phones and computer equipment. The investigation is still ongoing, and more persons involved in the case may be arrested.
 
      An ImmD 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.

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