Tag Archives: China

     The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Jakarta (HKETO Jakarta) hosted a Chinese New Year dinner in Manila, the Philippines, today (March 13) to welcome the Year of the Dragon. Some 180 guests from the local government, business, academic, cultural and media sectors attended.

     In her welcoming speech, the Director-General of the HKETO Jakarta, Miss Libera Cheng, said that the Philippines is one of Hong Kong’s top five trading partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Bilateral trade in goods amounted to US$13.8 billion last year, posting positive growth vis-à-vis the 2019 level, despite the impact of the pandemic, demonstrating the resilience of the economic and trade ties between the two places.

     “Following the full entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between Hong Kong and ASEAN (FTA) in 2021, Hong Kong has signed the First Protocol to Amend the FTA (the Protocol) in January this year to update the Product Specific Rules of origin under the FTA by enhancing their coverage to almost 600 categories of products. We are glad that the Secretary of Trade and Industry of the Philippines also signed the Protocol last month, thereby injecting new impetus to Hong Kong’s economic and trade ties with the Philippines and ASEAN as a whole.

     “The Philippines is Hong Kong’s largest source of tourism in ASEAN. We received some 86 000 tourists from the Philippines in January this year, representing a remarkable increase of 25 per cent vis-à-vis the same period in 2019. The Financial Secretary has introduced a series of measures in the latest Budget to further enrich tourists’ experiences and build the Hong Kong brand,” she added.

     Dignitaries joining the dinner included the Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Mr Jesus Domingo; the Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, Mr Allan Gepty; the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Mr Huang Xilian; the Director of Singapore of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Ms Vivienne Chee, and senior representatives from major business chambers in the Philippines.

     With the support of the Airport Authority Hong Kong and airlines, the HKETO Jakarta also arranged a lucky draw session during the dinner to give out round-trip air tickets between Manila and Hong Kong.

     The HKETO Jakarta will be hosting another event in Cebu, the Philippines, next Monday (March 18) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. read more

     Hong Kong Customs today (March 13) conducted anti-illicit cigarette operations in Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong respectively, and shut down two suspected illicit cigarette storage centres. A total of about 210 000 suspected illicit cigarettes, with a total estimated market value of about $1 million and a duty potential of about $700,000, were seized.

     In the first case, Customs officers seized about 40 000 suspected illicit cigarettes from a unit of a subdivided flat in Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po, this morning. A 89-year-old man who claimed to be unemployed and is suspected to be connected with the case was arrested.

     In the second case, Customs officers in the same morning further seized about 170 000 suspected illicit cigarettes from a residential unit of a tenement building in Shung Yan Street, Kwun Tong. A 58-year-old woman who claimed to be unemployed and is suspected to be connected with the case was arrested.

     The two arrested persons have been charged with “dealing with goods to which the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance applies”. The 89-year-old man and the 58-year-old woman will appear at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on March 27 and the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts on April 18 respectively.

     Customs reminds members of the public that it is an offence to buy or sell illicit cigarettes. Under the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance, anyone involved in dealing with, possession of, selling or buying illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $1 million and imprisonment for two years.

     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 2545 6182 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).

    

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for North District Hospital (NDH) made the following announcement today (March 13) regarding an incident of suspected loss of patient data:

     NDH received a report from a house officer yesterday evening (March 12) that a list containing the personal information of 34 inpatients including names, identity card numbers, ages, sex, and involved specialties had been lost. The list does not involve any other clinical data.

     A preliminary investigation showed that the house officer printed a list with patients’ information on the morning of March 8 and brought it along to facilitate clinical duties. He was then assigned to assist in escorting a critically ill patient to Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) for further management and returned to NDH by taxi. The patient list was suspected to be lost afterwards.

     The house officer subsequently informed the staff in PWH to assist in searching for the list. As of March 12, the patient list could not be located within the hospital premises and is suspected to have been lost during the taxi journey. NDH is very concerned about the incident and conducted a thorough search again within the relevant hospital premises after receiving the report last evening, but the search was in vain. The hospital has reported the incident to the Police, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and the Hospital Authority Head Office via the Advance Incident Reporting System.

     All staff have been reminded to properly keep and handle patients’ records. A patient list with personal information should not be brought outside the hospital. NDH has notified the patients and their families concerned to express their apologies and explain the incident. Clinical services have not been affected. read more

     â€‹The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, led a delegation and started a two-day visit to Guangzhou and Dongguan today (March 13) to meet health officials of Guangdong Province and Dongguan city, with a view to deepening exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and Mainland cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) on various health-related areas.

     The delegation today first met with Deputy Director General of the Health Commission of Guangdong Province (GDHC) Mr Huang Fei to discuss a number of cross-boundary healthcare services, including the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme (Pilot Scheme) and a direct cross-boundary ambulance service.

     Professor Lo said, “I would like to express my gratitude to the GDHC for its valuable advice in the process of pressing ahead with the Pilot Scheme, ranging from the selection of high-quality medical institutions to relevant Mainland laws and regulations which are conducive to the future monitoring of areas concerning healthcare quality and fee levels.

     “The Department of Health (DH) is working with various pilot medical institutions on follow-up arrangements such as reimbursement for claims for Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCVs) and system configurations. Last week, the DH conducted training sessions and briefings on the practical operations for staff of pilot medical institutions, and arranged for staff of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital to share their relevant experiences in running the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, so as to ensure that the future operation of the Pilot Scheme will go on smoothly.

     “The GBA development is a national strategy personally devised, planned and driven by President Xi Jinping. In terms of healthcare development, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has all along been reinforcing co-operation with various cities in the GBA in order to optimise the policy initiatives for providing more convenience for Hong Kong citizens under the principles of ‘complementarity and mutual benefits’ and on the premise that the development of the Mainland healthcare system will be benefited without comprising the development of Hong Kong’s local healthcare service,” Professor Lo stressed.

     As for the provision of a direct cross-boundary ambulance service, Professor Lo said that following the Chief Executive’s announcement in the last Policy Address on the discussion with Shenzhen and Macao on the provision of a cross-boundary ambulance service, the Health Bureau has been liaising with the relevant parties of the two places at full steam. The discussions are making good progress. Professor Lo said he hopes that the direct cross-boundary ambulance service can be launched as soon as possible so as to enable the direct point-to-point hospital transfer of inpatients with appropriate medical conditions.

     The delegation then visited the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University and the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Last month, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University was included by the Health Bureau as one of the pilot medical institutions under the Pilot Scheme. Hong Kong elderly persons eligible for the EHCV will be able to use the voucher to pay for outpatient healthcare services they received at designated medical centres or medical service departments of the Hospital later this year.

     In addition, the Hospital Authority (HA) has earlier commenced discussions with the GDHC on the second batch of the exchange programme for doctors, including an ophthalmology pilot exchange programme under which outstanding ophthalmologists from the Zhongshan Ophthalmology Center of Sun Yat-sen University would come to Hong Kong for exchanges. Two ophthalmologists have already arrived in Hong Kong under the programme and commenced an exchange in March. The HA is actively following up with the GDHC on the exchange arrangements for the other ophthalmologist and doctors of different specialties.

     During the meeting with the President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Professor Xiao Haipeng, Professor Lo also witnessed the signing of a co-operation agreement between the HA and the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University on enhancing training and exchanges of healthcare professionals.

     Professor Lo is very supportive of the exchange of healthcare talent between the HA and Mainland medical institutions. He said, “The HKSAR Government and the HA have been proactively exploring various collaboration models with relevant bodies to further advance the exchange and co-operation of healthcare professionals in the GBA, with a view to jointly enhancing the professional standards and development of clinical healthcare in the GBA. The HA is taking forward the second batch of exchange programmes with the GDHC. It is expected that over 100 healthcare personnel, covering a wider range of healthcare professions, will come to Hong Kong from various cities in Guangdong Province to participate in the exchange programmes.”

     The delegation will visit Dongguan tomorrow (March 14) to meet with Dongguan Municipal Government and health officials and visit the Dongguan Tungwah Hospital.

     Members of the Hong Kong delegation include the Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam; the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the DH, Dr Edwin Tsui; Deputy Secretary for Health Mr Eddie Lee; the Senior Advisor (Secretary for Health’s Office), Dr Joe Fan; the Chairman of the HA, Mr Henry Fan; and the Deputising Chief Executive of the HA, Dr Simon Tang. During the absence of Professor Lo from Hong Kong, the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Libby Lee, is the Acting Secretary for Health.

            

     The Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Ms Louise Ho, today (March 13) met the Chief of the Office of Port of Entry and Exit of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, Mr Wang Gang, to exchange views on control point planning and construction enhancements in the Customs Headquarters Building.

     Ms Ho welcomed Mr Wang’s visit to Hong Kong Customs with his delegation and chaired a meeting with the delegation of the Office of Port of Entry and Exit of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government. During the meeting, they discussed issues including the planning and development of control points and the development of smart control points. Noting that contact and connection between Hong Kong and Shenzhen has become increasingly frequent following the advancement in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), Ms Ho expressed hope to maintain close liaison, and strengthen communication and co-operation between the two places to further optimise the clearance environment and improve clearance facilitation measures.

     Hong Kong Customs will actively dovetail with related policies of the Government, and work closely with the Office of Port of Entry and Exit of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government and other relevant departments to explore ways to boost co-ordination between the two sides to implement initiatives on control point enhancements for the sake of facilitating personnel exchange, and economic and trade interactions between the two places with more convenient and comfortable, as well as faster services, and further improving cross-boundary trade facilitation between the two places in order to promote an efficient and smooth flow of various factors of production in the GBA.