Month: Nov 2003
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The Washington Times, owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s controversial Unification Church, has this insight on recent developments in Hong Kong. Highlights of their incisive analysis include: Hong Kongers simply are not happy being part of the PRC. Hong Kong’s free market made it rich. It is questionable whether it can continue to prosper…
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Phil has some interesting thoughts on the changing role of politicians in Hong Kong. The story is that a cross-party committee of legislators is concerned that the government has appointed a former civil servant as director of audit in spite of his lack of professional qualifications. After 29 years as a civil servant is he…
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I’ve never actually been to Northern Ireland, though people I know who’ve visited or lived there say it’s a fine place as long as you keep out of the areas where the terrorists (of either hue) are in control. It’s easy to believe that the whole place is in a mess because of what we…
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From the BBC: Hong Kong economy’s record rise Hong Kong’s towering skyline is testament to its economic might The Hong Kong economy has rebounded at a record pace since the Sars outbreak. Aided by a surge in returning tourists, gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.4% in the third quarter of 2003. This is the…
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A certain Hong Kong blogger seems to be taking it all very seriously. He’s off on holiday soon, but doesn’t want his blog to come to a halt whilst he’s away. He’s therefore looking for someone to take over for a few weeks. His ideal candidate is someone who already has a blog, but who…
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One of the best things about Hong Kong is the wide choice of public transport that is available. Taxis are cheap and easy to find (unlike, say, Singapore, where there always seem to be queues of people waiting for taxis), the MTR and KCR are fast and very frequent (much better than London), and we…
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Hong Kong and Britain have agreed to end all restrictions on passenger and cargo services between the two destinations in the most liberal air services agreement ever signed by the SAR. Not quite as liberal as it may sound, because it doesn’t actually open up the route to all-comers. Oh, no! Instead we are promised…
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The chairman of Hopewell Holdings said students and residents may be prevented from using the lifts at his firm’s headquarters, apparently in response to a protest against a plan to build two hotels in Wan Chai. Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung said, however, that he was not threatening anyone. The lifts have been used as a…
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From Bloomberg (via the SCMP): I thought this was interesting but rather confusingly written, so I have paraphrased it. Then I concluded that perhaps it wasn’t so interesting… Before China joined the World Trade Organisation in December 2001, how many brassieres sold in the United States did the mainland make – three out of five?…
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For the second day in a row, the SCMP thinks that a story about Antony Leung Kam-chung’s purchase of a motor car in January is worthy of a place on their front page. Does anyone care? Obviously it was crass and stupid of the Financial Secretary to buy a car just before proposed increases in…
Ordinary Gweilo 