POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 80 (05-03-2015)

Occupy Central

Occupy Central is a civil disobedience movement which began in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014. It calls on thousands of protesters to block roads and paralyse Hong Kong's financial district if the Beijing and Hong Kong governments do not agree to implement universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council elections in 2020 according to "international standards." The movement was initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013.

Umbrella Movement

The Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動; pinyin: yǔsǎn yùndòng) is a loose political movement that was created spontaneously during the Hong Kong protests of 2014. Its name derives from the recognition of the umbrella as a symbol of defiance and resistance against the Hong Kong government, and the united grass-roots objection to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.

The movement consists of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 28 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace,  groups are principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision.

Occupy Central site in Causeway Bay was cleared as police moved in  ...

POST OCCUPY CENTRAL - DAY 80: 

Full coverage of the day’s events on 05-03

On the omission of key HK-related terms in CPPCC report

THIS YEAR'S National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have been convened one after another, and the world's attention is once again on this important yearly occasion of Chinese politics. In Hong Kong, the "Occupy movement" last year has put the election of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage in 2017 at a critical juncture. What is now the central government's Hong Kong policy? The two meetings provide an opportunity to figure out which way the wind is blowing. Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the CPPCC, is the first leader in the central government to talk about Hong Kong affairs this year. Setting out the central government's Hong Kong policy, Yu has merely mentioned the principle of "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law, omitting "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy". This has once again led to speculation as to whether the central government has changed its policy towards Hong Kong.

"One country, two systems", "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy" have always been the keywords when it comes to Hong Kong affairs. "One country, two systems" stresses the particularity of Hong Kong when compared with mainland China, which allows it to have a different set of political, economic, social, and judicial systems. "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy" were intended by Deng Xiaoping, who was then leading the formulation of the Hong Kong policy, to ensure that Hong Kong's special status and its characteristics would remain unchanged after the handover. These words had such an effect that it resulted in the prompt defeat of Britain at the negotiating table, which had been claiming that the three unequal treaties were valid and which had been contemplating trading the sovereignty over Hong Kong for the right to govern the place. It was so because what these words imply has to do with the issue of trust, which was then at the heart of the question of Hong Kong's future. Most Hong Kong people believed that, as long as these words were fulfilled, Hong Kong would stay prosperous and stable.

In the past, whenever the central government talked about its special policy towards Hong Kong in a public document, the phrases "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy" would be mentioned in this particular order. Yu the other day talked about "fully, accurately implementing 'one country, two systems' and the Basic Law, supporting the Chief Executives and governments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region". Yu's wording was different from that of last year, when he talked about "remaining steadfast in the implementation of the principles of 'one country, two systems', Hong Kong people running Hong Kong, Macao people running Macao, and 'a high degree of autonomy'". Evidently, "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy" have been omitted in an important national document.

The phrases "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people running Hong Kong" and "a high degree of autonomy" have been of crucial importance to Hong Kong affairs. Every generation of Chinese leaders has stuck to them as if they were a mantra. This has been the case not because these phrases have any magical power, but because they have to do with the issue of trust. And this is what the success of "one country, two systems" hinges on. If the central government's Hong Kong policy has not changed, Hong Kong people will then ask: If so, why does the central government no longer mention these phrases? If there is no difference between mentioning them and not mentioning them, why does the central government do the latter? The central government's omission of these phrases has been interpreted by some Hong Kong people as a change to its Hong Kong policy. Such an allegation is not completely unfounded. We are convinced that Hong Kong people have the right to know what has happened to the central government's Hong Kong policy. The authorities have to give Hong Kong people a clear explanation so as to dispel any doubts and prevent worsening the distrust between the two sides.

Hong Kong flooded by day-trippers from China,

 while rich luxury shoppers go elsewhere

PUBLISHED ON MAR 6, 2015 11:20 AM

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Mainland Chinese visitors resting outside a shop in Hong Kong . -- PHOTO: REUTERS 

HONG KONG (Bloomberg) - Hong Kong wants more Chinese shoppers, just not the kind they're getting now.

The throngs of Chinese visitors snapping up Prada bags and Swiss watches in central Hong Kong are thinning out, as Chinese President Xi Jinping strengthens his campaign against graft and extravagance.

But growing are the numbers of so-called parallel traders who buy shampoo, milk powder and other daily goods to resell at higher prices in China, where concerns about the safety of local products put a premium on those from overseas.

That has put Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying in a quandary between the city's luxury retailers eager to see more Chinese shoppers and angry locals who accuse the visitors of pushing up the cost of necessities. Ahead of his trip this week to attend annual sessions of China's top legislative body, Mr Leung pledged to take up the issue with leaders in Beijing.

"The overall spending pattern of Chinese tourists has changed," Mr Raymond Yeung, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Hong Kong, said by phone. "The real issue is how Hong Kong can cope with that change."

Sales of luxury goods plunged 14 per cent last year, when the city saw its first annual drop in retail sales since 2003. The decline has continued into January, with total expenditure down 14.6 per cent from a year ago.

With Chinese tourists making up 78 per cent of Hong Kong's visitors last year, their changing composition ripples through the economy and drags down luxury-goods companies including Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group and Prada SpA.

Instead of rich Chinese flying in, the city is seeing an increasing number of visitors with big luggages hoarding space in its subways, on its buses and on the pavements.

"Hong Kong is basically losing market share" of the rich Chinese, said Ms Mariana Kou, an analyst at CLSA. Those are going to Japan, South Korea and Europe, while the tourists coming to Hong Kong now are spending less, she said.

While expenditure on luxury items fell last year, the sales of medicine, cosmetics and at supermarkets saw as much as a 9.3 per cent gain, government data shows. That's helping companies like YATA, an operator of seven department stores, which has seen Chinese tourists buy up the shampoo and groceries on its shelves, according to chief executive Daniel Chong.

The new shopping habits, though, are riling residents.

In Hong Kong's Yuen Long district, near China, there have been three protest marches in a month against the parallel traders and day visitors from the neighbouring Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The solution is to limit the number of visitors who are here for just a day, according to Mr Michael Tien, founder of clothing retailer G2000 Group. Those who come multiple times a year now make up 50 per cent of Chinese tourists, compared with 20 per cent five years ago, he said.

"Those visitors don't stay overnight and their contribution is very limited," Mr Tien said in an interview in Beijing where he was attending the legislature meeting as a Hong Kong delegate.

"I don't want mainlanders to see Hong Kong in a negative way, but I hope more people other than those from Shenzhen could visit Hong Kong."

The police charged 12 people out of 38 arrested during a March 1 demonstration, and used pepper spray to break up confrontations between the protesters and their opponents, the South China Morning Post reported on March 3.

Two-thirds of the 743 people surveyed last month wanted the government to reduce the number of individual Chinese visitors, the Chinese University of Hong Kong said on March 4. More than three-fifth of those polled said the tourists have brought inconvenience to their lives.

Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday in the nation's annual work report that China will strengthen cooperation with Hong Kong and will give full support to Mr Leung

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/east-asia/story/hong-kong-flooded-day-trippers-china-while-rich-luxury-shoppers-go-elsewhe#xtor=CS1-10http://str.sg/ob5