Hong Kong
431 stories
Hong Kong man dies after chasing thief and falling off industrial building
A man has died after chasing a suspected thief and falling from an industrial building in Hong Kong, according to police. The force received a report around 5.15pm on Sunday about a man who had found someone stealing cables at the Kimball Industrial Building in Kwun Tong and chased the suspect. The victim, who works in the premises, was later found to have fallen from the building, on to the air-conditioning pipes on the facade of the third floor. He was certified dead after being rushed to...
10 May 2026
AI app to detect drunk drivers through Cantonese speech analysis in the works
Hong Kong researchers say they are developing what would be the world’s first AI app that detects intoxication through real-time Cantonese voice analysis, helping users decide whether they are fit to drive after drinking. A team from the Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) said on Sunday that the self-assessment tool could not only help safeguard road safety but also potentially monitor language abnormalities linked to medication or fatigue. Funded by a HK$3.4 million (US$434,251) grant...
10 May 2026
Hong Kong police arrest 2 drivers over alleged truck racing viral video
Hong Kong police have arrested two drivers linked to a viral video depicting two trucks cutting lanes and allegedly racing each other, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the SCMP on Sunday that two drivers had been arrested for suspected dangerous driving after the footage was widely circulated on social media over the weekend. The compilation of dashcam footage was recorded last Friday at around 5.20pm. It showed the interior of a tunnel...
10 May 2026
‘Forfeiture of rights’: Hong Kong villagers slam rushed Northern Metropolis evictions
When Law Yin-ping moved into a village house in Yick Yuen Tsuen, Hung Shui Kiu, in northwest Hong Kong more than a decade ago with her granddaughters, it never crossed her mind that they could one day be homeless – and forcibly separated. The Tuen Mun village falls within the government’s planned Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area, which is set to become a high-end professional services and logistics hub under the Northern Metropolis megaproject. Law, who is nearly 70, said on Sunday...
10 May 2026
Hong Kong Mother’s Day dining shifts from traditional banquets to casual meals
Mother’s Day business at many traditional Chinese banquet restaurants in Hong Kong has been weaker than last year, with diners increasingly opting for lunch and afternoon tea celebrations or non-traditional meals such as hotpot, industry representatives have said. Busy areas such as Causeway Bay were bustling with families on Sunday, as residents flocked to restaurants and shopping malls to celebrate, some carrying flowers and cards. “I did not want to do a very big dinner this year because...
10 May 2026
Shenzhen nuclear power plant glitch posed no safety risk, Hong Kong authorities say
Hong Kong authorities have stressed that an operational glitch at a nuclear plant in neighbouring Shenzhen involving the closure of a cooling water isolation valve earlier this week posed no risk to public health or the environment. The Security Bureau said on Sunday that Guangdong’s Nuclear Emergency Committee Office had notified it of an operational event at Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station in mainland China, that occurred last Thursday. The plant, about 50km (31 miles) north of urban Hong Kong,...
10 May 2026
‘What a mess’: Wang Fuk Court residents flag glitches before online owners’ meeting
Multiple residents of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court have reported problems with registering for an online meeting hosted by the estate’s administrator, with the firm saying it has stepped up arrangements to enhance cybersecurity. A resident received an SMS from Hop On Management Company, the estate’s administrator, on Sunday saying he had not completed registration for the May 20 update session for owners, two days after the firm had confirmed a “successful registration”. “You have not...
10 May 2026
What does China want out of Xi-Trump summit?
US President Donald Trump is due to visit China on May 14-15 , where he is expected to meet leader Xi Jinping, after delaying an earlier summit because of the Iran war. US President Donald Trump (left) greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a bilateral meeting at the Gimhae International Airport terminal, in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. Photo: The White House, via Flickr. Here is what Beijing could be hoping to achieve: What does China want? Beyond diplomatic niceties and behind closed doors, Beijing will be looking for small, concrete achievements, analysts said, but will stay “realistically pragmatic” given Trump’s unpredictable nature. China wants a broad reset in ties but knows this would be unlikely, said Benjamin Ho from Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Beijing and Washington had been locked in a blistering trade war in which US levies on many Chinese goods reached an eye-watering 145 percent. The tit-for-tat escalation cooled off after Trump and Xi agreed in October to a one-year truce, with experts saying Beijing’s baseline goal for the upcoming meeting would be to extend that agreement. “What China needs is for Trump to follow through on his promise to engage, with at least a few concrete outcomes discussed at the highest level,” said Yue Su from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Beijing will be satisfied with “targeted” results such as limited tariff reductions that would justify a measured rollback of its own tariffs or export restrictions, she said. What about the Iran war? The topic of Iran will be “hard to avoid” in the Trump-Xi meeting, experts said, but “this is not a domain China is eager to engage deeply on”. “The US is already raising pressure pre-summit on China by targeting its economic ties with Tehran,” said Lizzi Lee at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on May 6, 2026. Photo: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Trump warned last month he would hit China’s goods with a 50 percent tariff if it provided military assistance to Iran. Beijing is a close partner of Tehran and has called US-Israeli strikes on Iran illegal, but it has also criticised Iranian attacks on Gulf countries and called for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened. However, China will not accept pressure from the United States to take action on Iran or Russia, over whom it “may have some influence but not decisive control”, the EIU’s Su said. Beijing will also aim to avoid “additional complications” such as new US tariffs linked to China’s trade with Iran being introduced into an “already complex relationship”, Su said. The Iran war will add “another layer of mutual pressure”, Lee said, but the real negotiating terrain remains in trade and investment. What are China’s bargaining chips? One of China’s key bargaining chips is its rare earths — metals crucial in the production of everything from smartphones to electric cars. China’s dominance in the rare earths industry, from natural reserves and mining through processing and innovation, is the result of a decades-long drive. It remains China’s strongest tool if meaningful concessions from the United States are needed, Su said. Trump has shown that he “cares a lot about” rare earths, said Joe Mazur, a geopolitics analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China. “I think that’s sort of something that the US doesn’t really have an answer to,” he said. Mazur thinks that China is “going to line up… quick wins” before the visit, which may include buying more US agricultural products or Boeing jets. China, he said, might hope “that will put Trump and his team in a positive frame of mind when they’re then discussing more complex, thornier issues”. How has Beijing prepared? China has hedged against instability brought about by Trump through diversifying trade towards Southeast Asia and the Global South, and strengthening regional ties, said the Asia Society’s Lee. Beijing has also sharpened its legal and regulatory toolbox, she said, and “has a potentially more extensive playbook”, as seen in the recent blocking of tech giant Meta’s acquisition of AI firm Manus . Logos of Manus and Meta. Photo: Manus. However, a lot of these measures, including diversification of energy imports, a push towards electrification and tech self-sufficiency, predate Trump’s second term, Mazur said. “If this meeting goes exceptionally well, it’s not going to change the trajectory that China’s on,” he said. “This push to America-proof the Chinese economy is going to continue, no matter what happens.” Is China confident? Beijing will enter talks “cautiously confident”, Lee said. It believes it can absorb pressure better now and is more comfortable playing “a long game” than Trump, who is facing midterm election pressure, she said. A visit to Beijing by Russian President Vladimir Putin is also on the cards, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — who met Xi in April — saying it would happen in the first half of this year. A back-to-back visit would send the message that “just because he (Xi) had a good meeting with Trump, it doesn’t mean that Chinese support for Russia is going anywhere”, Mazur told AFP. “That relationship is rock solid.”
10 May 2026
Hong Kong woman arrested for smuggling 7 animals at border checkpoint
Hong Kong customs has arrested a woman on suspicion of illegally importing seven animals worth around HK$4,300 (HK$549) including a sugar glider and a chinchilla, into the city. A spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said on Sunday that officers intercepted a 46-year-old passenger at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoint the day before, seizing the animals from paper bags she carried. “Customs reminds the public that importing animals into Hong Kong without a valid permit is an...
10 May 2026
Hong Kong records 17% jump in investments led by machinery purchases, construction
Hong Kong recorded a 17 per cent growth in investment in the first quarter of the year driven mainly by machinery purchases and construction-related activities, according to the city’s finance chief, reflecting a steadily improving property market. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday acknowledged a gap in perceived economic growth among residents working in different sectors as the city recorded its fastest quarterly GDP rise in nearly five years of 5.9 per cent. But he remained...
10 May 2026
UK warns against ‘foreign intimidation’ over Hong Kong-linked spying convictions
Britain has warned it will not tolerate attempts by foreign states to intimidate or harass individuals on its soil, as it summoned China’s ambassador after two men linked to Hong Kong’s London trade office were convicted of spying on activists. The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office confirmed on Saturday that Ambassador Zheng Zeguang had been summoned the previous day after the British court’s verdict in the national security case. Bill Yuen Chung-biu, manager of the...
10 May 2026
Hong Kong to seek more elderly care places in Guangdong, Chris Sun says
Authorities will negotiate with operators of popular care homes in Guangdong province to secure more places for elderly Hongkongers to meet rising demand, the welfare minister has said, amid a ninefold surge in city residents moving into such facilities across the border in recent years. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the number of elderly Hong Kong residents living in care homes under the Residential Care Services...
10 May 2026
Turning the tables: how 3 Hong Kong mothers are spinning trauma into hope as DJs
Amid the crackle of vinyl records and the nostalgia of Cantonese golden oldies, Holy Lee Hau-yin, a Hong Kong mother of three young children, is spinning a new narrative as a professional disc jockey and turning a page on her troubled past. After suffering an abusive marriage and the exhaustion of a decade of childcare, Lee will spend Mother’s Day on Sunday with renewed hope. The 28-year-old is set to perform for a private event at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel and ultimately hopes to make a...
10 May 2026
Mideast war jolts China’s well-oiled manufacturing hub
By Mary Yang with Tommy Wang in Hong Kong Vacuum cleaners and vapes could get more expensive if the Iran war drags on for much longer, Chinese factory owners and traders warn, as the world’s manufacturing hub reels from “crazy” costs. Weeks of US-Israeli strikes on Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz have choked Asia’s oil supply, stymieing the production of plastic — derived from oil — across the region. Employees work on the vacuum cleaner production line at the RIMOO Electrical Appliance Tech Company in Foshan, in southern China’s Guangdong province, on April 28, 2026. Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP. Manufacturing giant China has been comparatively sheltered from fuel shortages thanks to oil reserves and renewable energy , but local factories are picking up a ballooning raw materials bill. “Basically, we’ve been losing money on all our orders,” said Bryant Chen, a manager at vacuum cleaner factory RIMOO in southern Guangdong province’s Foshan. The price of plastic has risen roughly 50 percent since before the Iran war, Chen told AFP as workers behind him fastened suction tubes to metal tanks. “The costs of the products that we are making are being very greatly affected,” the 42-year-old said, listing plastic, copper for the vacuum’s motor and raw materials in its power cords. “Typically at this time we’d be entering peak season, but compared to the same period previously, shipment and production data aren’t very optimistic.” Two hours away, plastic traders in storage hub Zhangmutou said price fluctuations were the worst they’ve seen in decades. “It has never been this crazy,” said Li Dong, 46, who entered the industry two decades ago. The plastic, rice-sized pellets he buys for local phone cases and EV battery factories jumped wildly in March, triggering days of panic that jammed the small town’s roads as factories rushed to stock up. ‘Mutual state of decline’ Exporters in Zhangmutou showed AFP a vast range of products their pellets would become, including drones and badminton birdies. One trader sifted through pink, green and purple beads that she said would be moulded into e-cigarette casings sold in the Middle East. The Iran war has hit plastic production even harder than bottlenecks caused by the Covid pandemic, when ships could not come and go from China, Li said. Employees work at the Zhangmutou Plastic Raw Material Market in Dongguan, in southern China’s Guangdong province, on April 29, 2026. Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP. Some sellers cashed in on the plastic panic, he added, fighting to take advantage of surging costs. Li said the price of plastic had dropped around 10 to 20 percent from its height, but he cautioned against further oil hold-ups. “The factories we supply to will suffer the most because their direct costs will rise,” he said. For exporters, the Middle East crisis has added to the hangover still lingering from Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs last year. The US Supreme Court struck down those levies as illegal, but tolls on Chinese goods entering the US still sit at around 20 percent. On the outskirts of Guangzhou, one garment factory owner lamented the chaos triggered by the US president’s trade war. Overseas clients are afraid to place orders, while Chinese manufacturers cannot pin down changing costs. “As a result, everyone is in a mutual state of decline,” garment boss Zhou, 55, said. While 80 percent of his clients have returned, the fabrics scattered on his factory floor made into sweatpants headed for Europe and North America have risen 10 to 20 percent in cost due to the Middle East war. As overseas orders dropped, seamsters went months without a job. ‘Tensions rise, orders disappear’ Migrant worker Jingjing returned to her hometown in Hubei province for two months, where she made half the 400 yuan (US$60) she now earns in Guangzhou’s garment factories. “When tensions rise… orders suddenly disappear,” the 42-year-old said. But this year she said she always has something to do. Job-seeking labourers and recruiters from clothing factories on a street in an urban village in Guangzhou, in southern China’s Guangdong province, on April 27, 2026. Photo: Pedro Pardo/AFP. In a damp back alley, Jingjing joined job-seekers milling about leisurely, haggling for higher wages while garment bosses perched on scooters brandished hiring signs, desperate for day labourers. Chen, the vacuum factory manager, said he was “still worried” about surging shipping costs should the Iran war drag on. “If shipping costs rise, it will cause the final costs for our customers to increase sharply,” he said. They “will have no way to sell normally, because the costs are just too high”. Chen said RIMOO plans to expand to other markets beyond the Middle East where around 60 percent of its customers are based. “We are still optimistic,” he said. “The market demand still exists.” But analysts warn the war’s impact on costs will be felt for months. “The problem is all of these costs will filter through the supply chains for the rest of the year,” said supply chain consultant Cameron Johnson. “The longer it goes on, that kind of cascades into much bigger problems, particularly if there’s not enough oil in general to run stuff.”
10 May 2026
Is Hong Kong’s cultural hub of West Kowloon emerging as ‘Central 2.0’?
Hong Kong’s West Kowloon is poised to emerge as the second-most important office sub-market after Central with the completion of new buildings that will accommodate banks and insurance companies, according to industry officials. However, there was expected to be limited demand from newcomers or via corporate expansion, with leasing activity dominated by relocations and higher vacancy rates in some of the city’s other business districts. The 40-hectare stretch of reclaimed land is being touted as...
10 May 2026
Punishing abusers is not enough: What Ombudsman’s animal cruelty report misses
By Tim Pit Hok-yau Last month, the Office of the Ombudsman released its long-awaited investigation into the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty. Jack Chan, the Ombudsman, announces the report investigating the Hong Kong government’s work in combating animal cruelty on April 16, 2026. Photo: The Office of the Ombudsman. The report was prompted by a series of horrifying abuse cases which, in the Ombudsman’s own words , “amount to a deliberate trampling on the dignity of life and run wholly contrary to the very conscience of a civilised society.” The investigation focuses primarily on the failures of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), which is responsible for animal management and welfare. Among the key findings are the AFCD’s inefficient investigations and insufficient prosecutions. Out of 1,633 reports of suspected animal cruelty from 2020 to June 2025, only six prosecutions were brought – a striking, though not new, statistic. The AFCD responded to the Ombudsman, saying that the majority of reports it received pertained to noise or nuisance complaints rather than cruelty. However, media reports on animal cruelty, including a recent shocking case of a 14-year-old student sharing online photos and videos of cat abuse, may suggest otherwise. Other problems highlighted by the Ombudsman’s report include weak enforcement powers; inconsistent case handling; poor internal monitoring and staff training; delayed reform of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance (Cap. 169), first promised in 2019; and alarmingly low penalties for illegal animal traps, which currently carry a maximum fine of HK$50,000 with no provision for imprisonment. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department logo. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. These are important findings, and the Ombudsman deserves credit for highlighting institutional deficiencies that animal advocates have raised for years. But while the report has identified some of the government’s major failures, it also reveals a deeper problem: Hong Kong’s approach to animal welfare remains fundamentally reactive rather than preventive, with most suggestions focusing on punishment, not prevention. Worse still, the report overlooks many of the structural and everyday forms of animal plight that are normalised across the city. This article, then, intends to address these blind spots. Duty of care The most glaring limitation of the investigative report concerns its ambivalence over nudging the government to implement a “duty of care.” While the Ombudsman acknowledges that the government has struggled to reach consensus on this proposal, it stops short of urging its adoption. This hesitation matters. The Office of the Ombudsman. Photo: Peter Lee/HKFP. A duty of care would fundamentally shift existing animal law from punishing cruelty after suffering occurs to preventing suffering in the first place. Without such a framework, Hong Kong continues to operate on an outdated logic: authorities intervene only after visible injury, starvation, or death. If a cat falls from an unprotected high-rise window, or a dog is chronically confined in a tiny flat with little exercise or social contact, the current legal framework can hardly intervene until obvious harm has already occurred. With a duty of care, caregivers would be legally required to provide appropriate food, shelter, veterinary care, and living conditions that meet animals’ physical and behavioural needs safely. In other common law jurisdictions, including the UK and Australia, duty of care provisions have already become a cornerstone of animal protection. Undoubtedly, one of the report’s recommendations is to “further strengthen outreach and education in schools, helping students and young people build an awareness of animal protection from childhood.” This is a fantastic recommendation for preventing animal cruelty, but it remains frustratingly vague. What kind of education are we talking about? Dogs in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK. If Hong Kong genuinely wants to cultivate respect for animals, it must first confront contradictions in the current education system. Attending a local secondary school, I still remember many science classes where animal dissection was presented as a normal part of learning, from dissecting ox eyes to hearing classmates describe experiments on mice. These activities are still recommended by the Education Bureau’s Biology Curriculum and Assessment Guide , although the government also expects secondary school students to “learn about how humans can live in harmony with animals and show respect for all living things” in the very same subject. Humane education Not only do such laboratory practices risk reinforcing a worldview in which animals exist primarily as instruments for human use, but the pedagogical value of animal dissection has been convincingly challenged by a large corpus of research. Yet, the issue is perhaps just one of the many voids in our education system that should help enhance animal well-being and stop the everyday exploitation of animals. Learning about veganism, the intersection between animal exploitation and other social problems, conservation, and other elements of animal education are equally important. Humane education should equip citizens with the ability to locate the many practices of cruelty against animals in Hong Kong, many of which the Ombudsman’s report says nothing about. For instance, there have been repeated controversies surrounding captive animals at Ocean Park ; animal deaths at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens ; and the racing industry operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club , where horses routinely suffer injuries and fatalities caused by running at maximal speed, lax whipping rules, and a hot climate. Of course, the development projects and human activities that disrupt animals’ habitats should not be ignored. Just think of how Chinese white dolphins have lost their habitat because of reclamation or been injured because of high-speed ferries’ propeller blades, to name just one example. Whether one supports these institutions and projects or not, it is difficult to argue that they fall outside the conversation on animal welfare. A Chinese white dolphin spotted in the southern part of Lantau on September 10, 2021. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. The government’s poor animal management policies in urban areas are another major omission in the Ombudsman’s investigation. The report rightly condemns illegal animal traps but ignores government-led practices that also cause suffering, including the wild boar culling operations . It also neglects ineffective regulation of religious animal release practices , which often disrupt ecosystems and harm the very animals being “saved” because more often than not, they are not released into suitable habitats. If Hong Kong truly wants to become a “civilised” city that respects life, then animal welfare cannot be confined to criminal prosecutions of isolated abuse cases. It must also confront the legal, educational, economic, and cultural systems that normalise animal suffering in everyday life and prevent it from happening in the first place. Another step that must be taken to safeguard animals’ well-being is to ask a harder question: What kinds of relationships do we, as a city, continue to build with the animals who live among us? As philosopher Martha Nussbaum reminds us, animal justice should not be measured simply by the absence of cruelty, but by whether animals can actualise the capabilities essential to their flourishing. For dogs, that includes play, movement, and social bonding. For dolphins, it means the ability to hunt, communicate, and live within their natural habitat. Survival alone is not welfare; a decent life is. The Ombudsman’s report is an important step. But it should not be mistaken for an ultimate solution. Rather, it should remind us that there is always more that we – as policymakers, educators, and citizens – must do. Tim Pit Hok-yau is research lead for the Hong Kong Animal Law and Protection Organisation . HKFP is an impartial platform & does not necessarily share the views of opinion writers or advertisers. HKFP presents a diversity of views & regularly invites figures across the political spectrum to write for us. Press freedom is guaranteed under the Basic Law, security law, Bill of Rights and Chinese constitution. Opinion pieces aim to constructively point out errors or defects in the government, law or policies, or aim to suggest ideas or alterations via legal means without an intention of hatred, discontent or hostility against the authorities or other communities.
10 May 2026
Bar Association proposes ‘double-track’ approach to criminalising bid-rigging
The Hong Kong Bar Association has proposed criminalising bid-rigging by introducing a “double-track” approach to the Competition Ordinance, describing it as a quick fix to increase deterrence and encourage more whistle-blowers to expose industry malpractice following the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Under the current civil regime established in 2015, the ordinance only punishes individuals involved in serious anticompetitive acts, such as bid-rigging, with fines. But the new proposal calls...
10 May 2026
‘There must be reasons’: Cantopop star Hins Cheung’s apology for past political comments sparks fan theories
An engineer by day, Thomas spends most of his time inspecting building projects on construction sites. At night, he unwinds by performing in bars and restaurants across Hong Kong. Cantopop singer Hins Cheung. Photo: Hins Cheung, via Facebook. The 35-year-old has always had a passion for singing – in particular, he loves performing songs by Hins Cheung, his favourite Cantopop artist. “When I have a gig, one-third or even half of my songs are Hins’ songs,” Thomas told HKFP. “I love how he expresses himself through singing. He’s very creative, and he’s humorous too.” Last year, he even signed up for Hins Academy music seminars , personally taught by Cheung. They were not cheap, Thomas said, costing around HK$800 or $900 per seminar. Cheung, 45, whose music career in Hong Kong has spanned more than two decades, was born and raised in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. He moved to Hong Kong in 2002 to pursue music. His hits, from old-time favourites like “Tremor” to newer songs like “Imaginary Fairground,” are karaoke staples. He has also won multiple high-profile awards , and his concert tickets sell out notoriously quickly. Hins Cheung’s interview in Wen Wei Po’s newspaper on April 11, 2026. Photo: Wen Wei Po. Last month, Cheung made headlines after he apologised for his past criticism of the government. His comments were published in a full-page interview with state-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po, in which he said he had been “impulsive” and “ignorant” in his younger years. A pass for a Hins Academy music seminar attended by Thomas. Photo: Supplied. The out-of-the-blue repentance contrasted with the pro-democracy stance that Cheung had been associated with. While he – like most public figures in the city’s post-security law environment – has not commented on politics in recent years, his fans remember his support for social movements dating back to the anti-national education protests in 2012. Cheung also said in the interview that he would serve as a mentor for a Security Bureau programme targeting young people arrested for their involvement in the 2019 protests and unrest. He would lead them on trips to mainland China so they could learn more about the country, he said. Thomas – who requested to use a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the topic – said the recent news did not change his perception of Cheung, as he did not think the statements were made of his own free will. “This is a 180-degree difference” from what Cheung used to be, Thomas said in Cantonese. “I think there must be reasons behind the scenes.” Hins Cheung gives a music seminar to fans in 2025. Photo: Supplied. His reaction echoed many comments left on Cheung’s social media posts, some of which said the Wen Wei Po interview felt “bizarre” and suggested that something “had happened.” Political pressure A political scientist at a university in Hong Kong, who declined to be named, said he believed there was some merit in fans’ theories. Cheung’s dramatic turn showed the increasing political pressure that artists had to cave in to in order to succeed in their field, he said. He speculated that the government wanted a popular public figure to step forward and “admit their mistakes” to encourage others to rethink their political views. Cheung was a “suitable candidate,” the academic said. He opined that while Cheung was believed to have a pro-democracy stance, he was not as anti-establishment as other singers who have engaged in political activism. A Weibo post made by Hins Cheung marking China’s National Day on October 1, 2019. Screenshot: Hins Cheung, via Weibo. In fact, while the Cantopop star has expressed support for the city’s social movements, he has also made posts on Weibo celebrating China’s National Day. “He has the brand of being anti-government in some sense, but he’s not that extreme,” the scholar said. “He’s the ideal type for the government to work with.” The apology and collaboration with the government are also beneficial for Cheung from a business perspective, the academic added. In the past, artists worried that anti-establishment political statements could limit their opportunities across the border. Mainland China has been known to bar singers perceived as pro-democracy, making it difficult for them to hold concerts there. But now that fear could be felt right at home, too, the academic said. In recent years, singers who are outspoken about their pro-democracy stance have faced difficulties securing concert venues in the city. Ex-district councillor Lester Shum, who was jailed in the 47 democrats case but has completed his jail term, outside West Kowloon Law Courts Building on February 23, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Outside of Cheung’s fan circle, however, criticism is not hard to come by. Lester Shum, a pro-democracy activist who was released from jail in January after serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence for a landmark national security case, said on Threads that Cheung was doing it “for the money.” He appeared to downplay concerns that Cheung was under any pressure. “Don’t say he’d get arrested if he didn’t do this lmao,” Shum wrote in Chinese. “I think the chances of that happening are close to zero.” Another Threads user accused Cheung of “playing the victim” and trying to fish for sympathy. ‘For his music’ Comments like that do not faze long-time fan Brian, who said he has been listening to Cheung since his late primary school days. Brian’s Hins Cheung concert ticket from 2018. Photo: Supplied. The 29-year-old said he had been to Cheung’s concerts eight or nine times, a feat made possible by the fact that he could buy internal tickets through a friend’s relative who worked at Emperor Entertainment Group, Hong Kong’s talent management behemoth that manages the artist. Tickets are too difficult to purchase during public sales, said Brian, who declined to disclose his full name. “I have liked him for so many years for his music, not because of things he has said about politics in the past,” Brian told HKFP. “So I won’t stop liking him because of what he’s said about politics now.” He told HKFP he himself is not a political person and that he does not support “either side.” “But in Hong Kong, if you say you support the government, you will have more opportunities,” he said. “If [Cheung] still wants to develop in Hong Kong, to hold shows and appear in films, his stance must be supportive of the government.” Cantopop singer Hins Cheung. Photo: Hins Cheung, via Facebook. According to local media, Cheung appeared at a Security Bureau event at the Hong Kong Museum of History at the end of April, where he and other speakers gave talks to about 300 people. The event was aimed at young people who were arrested during the protests and unrest in 2019. The singer shared the ups and downs of his career, including being scammed by a record company in mainland China when he was 17. In his talk, he did not mention national security. Afterwards, participants were brought to the national security exhibition in the museum. Then, there was a lucky draw, with tickets to a star-studded concert featuring Emperor Entertainment Group’s singers among the prizes, an attendee told local media. Thomas said he did not think that Cheung wanted to collaborate with the government on its event, but perhaps he had to as a favour to his music company, which is reportedly experiencing financial difficulties. Last year, Emperor Group actress Michelle Wai also gave a talk at a similar Security Bureau event targeting former 2019 protesters. A Hins Cheung concert in May 2019. Photo: Hins Cheung, via Facebook. He also said it was “abnormal” that Cheung unfollowed many accounts on Instagram around the time the Wen Wei Po interview came out, including some of his closest artist friends like Terence Lam and Tyson Yoshi. Thomas said he believed Cheung would not do that on his own. He added that while Cheung had not spoken about politics in recent years, his music video for “Imaginary Fairground” – filmed in London in 2023 and depicting Hongkongers’ struggle to adapt to a new life in the UK – was interpreted by fans as a message of encouragement for those who had emigrated because of the city’s political developments. Thomas’ friends who are also Cheung fans share his continued support for the artist, the hobbyist singer said, but some members of his own audience seem less forgiving. Thomas had come across restaurant customers at his gigs who, upon hearing him perform Cheung’s songs, said they no longer listened to the Cantopop star. “I think those are not his real fans,” Thomas said. “All they’ve seen are the news reports.”
10 May 2026
Elderly woman tries to shove younger one out of priority seating on MTR train
An elderly woman tried to fight a younger one over priority seating inside an MTR train carriage in Hong Kong, with a clip capturing the dispute going viral on Saturday. In the clip posted on the social media platform Threads, the elderly woman in one of two adjacent priority seats is seen forcefully trying to remove the younger woman beside her. The older woman pushes the younger one’s face, grabs her hair and shakes her head, while using her foot to push her leg. The younger woman does not hit...
9 May 2026
Funeral for Derek Li, father of injured Mirror dancer Mo Li, to be held on June 6
The funeral for the father of Mo Li Kai-yin, the dancer left paralysed after being struck by a falling giant screen during a concert by Hong Kong boy band Mirror, will be held early next month. The family said on Saturday that Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam’s funeral would be held at 10.30am on June 6 at St Andrew’s Church, Kowloon. The 71-year-old Li died on April 25, a week after disclosing on his social media that he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. According to his previous...
9 May 2026
100 Hong Kong-linked ships ‘stranded in Strait of Hormuz’ amid Middle East war
About 100 ships that are either registered in Hong Kong or locally managed or owned are stranded in the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid the United States and Israel’s war with Iran, accounting for an estimated 2,300 trapped seafarers, an industry leader has said. Richard Hext, chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, told the South China Morning Post on Friday that it was very risky to sail vessels through the strait due to the risk of attack, even though the US and Iran had recently...
9 May 2026
Hong Kong home market maintains upwards momentum as eager buyers snap up new flats
Hong Kong homebuyers snapped up new flats on offer on Saturday, fuelling optimism that the bull run in the city’s property market will continue. All 154 units at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Lime Spark project sold out as of 4.30pm, while 147 homes, or 93 per cent of the 158 flats available at Henderson Land’s Highwood Phase 2 project, found buyers, according to real property agents. “Home prices have climbed by nearly 8 per cent this year, and prospective buyers are likely to find that a delay in...
9 May 2026
Heroism and grief: 6 residents’ stories from Wang Fuk Court fire hearings
Stories filled with tragic bravery, outrage at heedless officials and horror as loved ones perished were among those shared by 24 residents of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court estate, as they testified at a public hearing investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. Over multiple sessions that began on March 19, some told the presiding committee how their repeated efforts to raise bid-rigging and safety concerns about the estate’s exterior renovation fell on deaf ears, well before the...
9 May 2026
Wanted ‘Hong Kong Parliament’ member could be deported from Thailand
A wanted member of the overseas opposition group “Hong Kong Parliament” has been arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa, and is reportedly set to be deported to mainland China. The opposition group said on Friday that Zhang Xinyan, who took part in what it called a parliamentary election and was sworn in as a member last year, was recently arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa. It was not immediately clear what type of visa Zhang held. In a reply to the South China Morning Post on...
9 May 2026
Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy members reject Central service takeover by Carlyle & Co
An exclusive Hong Kong sports club will press ahead with an imminent change of operator for its Central clubhouse despite objections by some of its members about unfair access and incompatibility of their client profiles, the South China Morning Post has learned. The controversy began about a fortnight ago after private members’ club Carlyle & Co announced it would take over the operation of the Central clubhouse of the Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy (HKGTA). Some HKGTA members told the SCMP...
9 May 2026
Hongkongers pack major supermarkets amid ‘price war’ on eve of Mother’s Day
Hongkongers packed the aisles of supermarkets with carts full of daily necessities as the city’s major grocery chains engaged in what some were calling a “price war” ahead of Mother’s Day. Hong Kong’s two major supermarket chains, CK Hutchison Holdings-backed ParknShop and Jardine Matheson’s Wellcome, each offered 12 per cent off everything in their stores for those who bought a certain amount of goods on Saturday. HKTVmall, the city’s popular online shopping platform, entered the fray and...
9 May 2026
Budding Mother’s Day competition as Hong Kong florists prune prices
Competition among Hong Kong florists heated up on the day before Mother’s Day as stores slashed bouquet prices and offered more innovative products, with some vendors reporting weaker business and lower profit margins compared with last year. Despite the wet weather on Saturday, vendors at the Mong Kok Flower Market touted colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers. The price of a medium-sized bouquet at the market ranged from HK$300 to HK$400 (US$38.32 to US$51.10), at...
9 May 2026
Hong Kong’s MTR Corp to host exhibition with retired trains, driving simulator
Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation will launch a large-scale railway exhibition at Hung Hom Station on May 16, featuring four retired trains and a new immersive train driving simulator. The rail giant said on Saturday that the exhibition, titled “Station Rail Voyage: Explorer”, would feature an expanded layout with a refreshed look. “The exhibition retains four iconic retired trains on display while introducing a new immersive train driving simulator and a range of interactive experiences, offering the...
9 May 2026
Thai police probe military-grade weapons cache at Chinese man’s home
Thai police are investigating a vast arsenal of military-grade weapons — including assault rifles, explosives, grenades and anti-personnel mines — found at the home of a Chinese man, authorities said Saturday. A photo published by Thai police on May 8, 2026, shows weapons found at a home near the beach resort of Pattaya. Photo: ThaiPoliceOfficial, via Facebook. Two M16 assault rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Russian landmines, projectiles, gasoline and nearly five kilos (11 pounds) of explosives were found at the home of Sun Mingchen, 31, near the beach resort of Pattaya. A photo published by Thai police on May 8, 2026, shows weapons found at a home near the beach resort of Pattaya. Photo: ThaiPoliceOfficial, via Facebook. There were no clear links to a planned attack, Chonburi province’s public relations department said in a statement, but local police chief Pongphan Wongmanithet told reporters at the scene they were “investigating security implications”. Sun was charged with illegal possession of unauthorised weapons and could face up to 10 years in prison. Thai media reported that the suspect’s phone contained AI chatbot searches on military plastic explosive properties and videos of him handling the weapons, fuelling concerns of possible “terrorist” intent. Police are looking into the motive of the suspect, who will be taken for psychological evaluation, Pongphan said. The raid on Sun’s home was prompted after police found a pistol in a car with two Chinese nationals on board during a traffic stop on Friday. According to authorities, he held a long-term visa in Thailand and had lived in the property for about two years.
9 May 2026
2 bike-sharing apps vie for Hong Kong riders amid industry’s roller coaster development
Over the past year, retired economist Thomas Yuen Wai-kee has used shared bikes operated by Locobike and Helloride a few times each month to go on leisure rides in Hong Kong. So far the 62-year-old, a former assistant economics professor with Hong Kong Shue Yan University, has enjoyed their services, saying the two dockless shared bike operators offer different experiences. “Locobike provides more support on local trips, such as a map and recommendations. Since it is local, it looks more...
9 May 2026
Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 70
In April, the 70th month since Beijing imposed the national security law, the Hong Kong government applied to the court to seize assets belonging to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. St Paul’s Co-educational College Choir performs at the opening ceremony of National Security Education Day on April 15, 2026, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Photo: GovHK. On National Education Day, a top Chinese official delivered a warning about those who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to “stir up chaos” in the city. Gov’t seeks to seize Jimmy Lai’s assets The Hong Kong government filed an application with the High Court on April 2 to seize “offence-related” properties owned by jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on national security grounds. In a statement issued the same day, the government mentioned Lai’s earlier convictions under the Beijing-imposed national security law. It said the High Court had found that he was the “mastermind and driving force behind the case, consciously using Apple Daily and his personal influence” to undermine local and Beijing authorities. Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. In a writ dated April 2, the secretary for justice listed HK$127 million in assets to be “forfeited” to the authorities . The assets include credit balances in bank accounts belonging to or linked to the Apple Daily founder. Fifteen bank accounts under Lai’s name – 10 with HSBC, two with Hang Seng Bank and three with Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank – have over HK$32 million. The government is also seeking to seize bank accounts belonging to 17 companies linked to Lai. It is also demanding that Lai give up shares in 17 companies, some of which overlap with the 17 firms whose assets the government is seeking to seize. Among the companies whose assets and shares the government wants to seize are Dico Consultants Ltd, which has over HK$404,302 in its HSBC account, and Lai’s Hotel Properties Ltd, which has over HK$3.1 million in its four HSBC accounts. Lai has been summoned to the High Court on July 8 to hear the government’s application. The case will be presided over by Esther Toh, one of the three judges who heard his national security trial. Apple Daily headquarters. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. The move to seize Lai’s assets came after the government designated three companies linked to Lai’s now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid “prohibited organisations” in late March and removed them from the corporate registry. Police cordoned off the Apple Daily building in Tseung Kwan O a day later. The three firms were tried and convicted alongside the Apple Daily founder in his high-profile national security case. Lai was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in early February, while the companies were each fined over HK$3 million. Political commentator appears in court A Hong Kong political commentator charged with disclosing details of a national security investigation appeared at the District Court on April 28. Wong Kwok-ngon, known by his pen name Wong On-yin, has been detained since his arrest in December for allegedly divulging in a YouTube video details of enquiries made by police during a national security investigation. Judge Stanley Chan said the pre-trial review would take place behind closed doors on August 11, and the trial would begin on October 9. Wong Kwok-ngon in a YouTube video posted on December 2, 2026. Screenshot: On8 Channel – 王岸然頻道, via YouTube. Wong’s offence falls under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a homegrown security law known as Article 23. It was added to the ordinance in May as part of subsidiary legislation, and Wong is the first to be charged under the new law. He is also charged with sedition over videos posted on YouTube between January 3 and December 6 last year. He plans to plead not guilty to both charges. The defendant, who continues to represent himself, told the court he had dropped his legal aid application. Asked by the judge whether he had legal knowledge for self-defence, Wong said he had “three law degrees” and was confident of handling the case. Nat. security clauses for restaurant licences Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said in early April that all Hong Kong restaurant licences would include national security clauses from September. Shops awaiting for lease on a Hong Kong street in October 2024. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Tse made the remarks on April 7, nearly a year after the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) introduced the provisions for restaurant licence renewals in May. “With restaurants renewing their licences gradually, we expect that by September this year, all restaurant licences will contain the clauses,” Tse told reporters, according to RTHK. Retiree jailed over seditious Facebook posts A Hong Kong man was jailed for a year under the city’s homegrown national security law after pleading guilty to making seditious remarks on Facebook, including comments supporting Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s independence. Raymond Chong pleaded guilty before national security judge Victor So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on April 14 to one count of knowingly publishing publications with a seditious intention – an offence under the city’s local security law, also known as Article 23. The magistrate handed Chong, a retiree in his early 60s, an 18-month sentence but discounted it by six months after considering his guilty plea. A Facebook log-in screen. Photo: Pixabay, via Pexels. Chong was accused of making 53 seditious social media posts between March 2024 and November 2025, local media reported. The posts had wording such as “dissolving the Chinese Communist Party is the most important thing” and “Hong Kong independence is within sight.” The defendant posted on a public Facebook page called “Holy Raymond,” which features the Chinese phrase “Heaven will destroy the Chinese Communist Party, God bless Hong Kong” as its profile picture. During mitigation ahead of sentencing, his lawyer argued that Chong was a Falun Gong believer who had come to hate the Chinese Communist Party because of false information that the CCP engaged in live organ harvesting. Beijing official warned of ‘politicising’ Tai Po fire China’s top official in charge of Hong Kong affairs warned of some people who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to use the disaster to “stir up chaos” in Hong Kong. Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, delivered his remarks on April 15 via a recorded video shown at a National Security Education Day ceremony. In his speech, Xia mentioned the massive fire that broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po, on November 26, killing 168 people. Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, gives a speech via a video on National Security Day on April 15, 2026. Photo: GovHK. “After the Tai Po fire, some malicious people politicised the tragedy, attempting to use the disaster as a means to disrupt Hong Kong,” Xia said in Mandarin, without giving further details. “Once again, it reminds us that along Hong Kong’s path toward prosperity under good governance, there will be various risks and challenges.” Speaking at the same event, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee also warned that some people were “using the disaster to stir up chaos” and “to incite hatred” in Hong Kong. “Only through the government’s swift action and decisive law enforcement has the situation been able to return to normal,” Lee said in Mandarin. French journalist denied entry to city A French journalist was denied entry to Hong Kong in November, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in late April, accusing the city’s authorities of “weaponising visas” against foreign media workers. French journalist Antoine Vedeilhe. Photo: Reporters Without Borders. Antoine Vedeilhe, who was shooting a documentary for French public broadcaster France Télévisions, was questioned upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport on November 2 last year, RSF said in a statement on April 24. He was detained for three hours before being deported without being given a reason, it added. The press freedom NGO said Vedeilhe was the 13th foreign media worker who had been denied entry or a visa by the city’s authorities following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020. “In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong,” RSF said. Another cameraman for the documentary was able to enter the city, RSF said, but he was followed by “unidentified individuals that he suspects were Hong Kong’s national security police.” “In the following days, there was a hacking attempt on Vedeilhe’s private email account and his sources in the documentary were harassed by the national security police,” the NGO said. In an emailed reply to HKFP’s enquiries, the Hong Kong government said it “strongly condemns the smearing remarks and distorted narratives by” RSF. Prosecution and arrests figures As of April 1, a total of 394 people have been arrested for “cases involving suspected acts or activities that endanger national security” since Beijing’s national security law came into effect, according to the Security Bureau. That figure includes those arrested under Article 23 and for other offences. Of the 208 people and five companies that have so far been charged, 180 people and four companies have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing. In total, 100 people and four companies have been charged under Beijing’s national security law, with 79 persons and three companies convicted. Thirteen people have been charged under Article 23, 10 of whom have been convicted.
9 May 2026
Wu Yize, China’s ‘priest’ who conquered the snooker world
China’s Wu Yize is said to have shared a single bed with his father in a windowless flat as he sacrificed his home life to follow his snooker dreams. Chinese snooker player Wu Yize (centre) celebrates his first World Championship win with his parents on May 4, 2026. Photo: World Snooker Tour. Now, just a few years later, Wu is world champion after defeating Shaun Murphy 18-17 in the final at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Monday. Wu, who is 22 but looks younger, follows in the footsteps of Zhao Xintong, who last year became the first Chinese player to win snooker’s most cherished prize. “(Zhao’s success) definitely made me believe in myself more because he made history,” Wu has said. Those in the know have long tipped Wu for the top. In February, seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan said the Chinese ace would be world number one within three years. O’Sullivan called him a “phenomenal player”. In China Wu has earned the nicknames “Little Wu” and “Priest Wu”, the latter mainly because of a previous hairstyle which people said made him look like a priest. Others still use it because it also reflects his composure and calm demeanour around the table. Far from home Wu was born on October 14, 2003, in the city of Lanzhou, in Gansu province, in China’s rugged northwest. China’s Wu Yize poses with the World Snooker Championship trophy during the awards ceremony at The Crucible in Sheffield, England, on May 4, 2026. Photo: World Snooker Tour, via Facebook. Chinese snooker player Wu Yize at the World Championship final in May 2026. Photo: World Snooker Tour, via Facebook. Wu, whose idol is O’Sullivan, was taken by his father to a snooker hall for the first time when he was seven. His talent was obvious and four years later his father, who ran an antique business, took him to train in Yushan on the other side of the country. The International Billiards Academy is a talent factory for Chinese stars of the future and there is also the 4,000-seater Yushan Sports Center and a World Billiards Museum. Then aged 16 came the move to Sheffield, the northern English city regarded as the home of snooker. It was not easy, far away from home and having to master a language, culture and food that was totally new to him. A World Snooker Championship trophy outside the Crucible Theatre, the venue of the World Snooker Championship, in Sheffield, England. File photo: Geograph Britain and Ireland. His father was with him, but money was tight. “His dad gave up his job, I don’t think either of them could speak any English when they came over,” Rob Walker, broadcaster and master of ceremonies for World Snooker, told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. “They famously shared a single bed in a one-bedroom flat with no window for three years because they were determined that he would pursue this dream.” Even now Wu’s mother remains in China and visits only occasionally. Wu’s talent, diligence and commitment soon began to pay off, but he missed home and Chinese food, especially Lanzhou’s famous beef noodles. In 2021 he turned professional and reached the last 32 of the UK Championship. In 2022 he was named Rookie of the Year and in 2024 he reached his first ranking event final. China’s Wu Yize defeats Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen in the World Snooker Championship semifinal on May 2, 2026. Photo: World Snooker Tour, via Facebook. Last year came his big breakthrough when he beat the likes of Zhao, Judd Trump and John Higgins in the final to win his first ranking title, at the International Championship. Feeling the pressure Even as he joins Zhao as world champions from China, Wu has not forgotten his roots. He has set up a snooker hall under his own name in his hometown of Lanzhou and occasionally gives advice to budding young players. Speaking previously to reporters in Sheffield, Wu said he would buy a house if he won the world title. “In the beginning there was not a lot of prize money,” Wu said, according to the BBC. “So there was definitely a lot of pressure and also there was a lot for myself to improve in terms of my game, so I was definitely feeling the pressure at the time.”
9 May 2026
Public consultation for Hong Kong’s 5-year plan offers golden chance to step up city’s sustainability game
It’s doubly exciting to see that Chief Executive John Lee is launching a public consultation for Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan. The first reason for excitement is that we’ve just experienced a pretty well-run public consultation; the recently updated Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan generated a lot of submissions from NGOs, companies, and members of the public. Chief Executive John Lee at a weekly press conference on October 14, 2025. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) seems to have done a good job of taking those submissions into account. In short, we’ve seen a proof of concept that public consultations seem to be effective. The second reason for excitement is that China takes sustainability quite seriously in both word and deed. In aligning with China, the Hong Kong government has a golden opportunity to step up its sustainability game. The outline of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is 83 pages long. However, just as a very rough indicator of how seriously the topic is taken, Article 1, Chapter 1, Section 1 includes several comments about the energy transition and pollution. Sustainability is considered important enough a topic to warrant some space in the prime real estate of those first few paragraphs, rubbing shoulders with big hitters like GDP and life expectancy. It might not be very scientific to measure a topic’s importance by which paragraph it lies in, but it is incredibly refreshing to see sustainability topics getting headline treatment instead of being tucked away on page 18. A Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong SAR flag in the city. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. In a similar vein, the top number in the Key Indicators of Economic and Social Development is GDP. However, in that very same table, there are binding objectives for carbon intensity goals, PM2.5 levels, and forest cover. I get the sense that these are not just handwaved in order to hit a game of buzzword bingo – something that corporations are frequently guilty of. Rigorous thought has been put into integrating sustainability into the Five-Year Plan. At the April 21 press conference, when Lee talked about the public consultation for the five-year plan, sustainability, carbon and pollution were not mentioned at all. Of course, GDP growth and the perennial issues of housing and education are all vital issues that need to be addressed. However, if we’re talking in terms of five-year plans, it’s probably worth noting that in five years from now, the world needs to have carbon emissions at half of what they are today . And that in 25 years from now – just five more five-year plans away! – we need to be at net zero. Sustainability is vital too. Of course, Hong Kong’s tiny landmass is not home to vast factories, refineries or farms. Most of the carbon that we emit is from producing electricity to power the towers that are our homes and offices. So while emulating the priority that sustainability is afforded in China’s five-year plan is important, copy-pasting it wholesale would miss important nuance: that Hong Kong’s carbon shadow is much larger than our territorial footprint. We import almost everything – food, energy, goods, and even water. The spectre of our carbon emissions haunts not only what we consume, but also the vast amounts of financing that flow across the world from our international financial centre. Hong Kong’s Lion Rock is seen behind the densely packed buildings of Kowloon. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Sustainability in Hong Kong is not just about plonking a few solar panels down; it’s a much deeper question about consumption and green finance. That’s not to diminish the role of sustainability in our own territory; there’s plenty of room for more ambition, not just in carbon but with other forms of pollution. For example, the Municipal Solid Waste charging scheme’s failure to progress beyond the pilot study means that there’s little push to reduce waste at source. While it’s true that landfill rates are going down, incineration is going up – in other words, the generation of trash is not slowing down, but is instead just being diverted to the landfill in the sky. That’s not a long-term solution. I hasten to add that putting sustainability higher on the agenda is not just important for the Hong Kong government. Company boards and executive teams ought to be discussing sustainability during their strategy meetings. Hopefully, seeing sustainability high on the agenda in the government’s five-year plan will light a fire under corporations to up their sustainability game too. All told, the idea of a public consultation for Hong Kong’s five-year plan is a wonderful opportunity. Public consultations have a prior form in moving the needle – the Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan has demonstrated that. And by aligning Hong Kong’s five-year plan with China’s, we can achieve one of the most important things of all – putting sustainability on the agenda. HKFP is an impartial platform & does not necessarily share the views of opinion writers or advertisers. HKFP presents a diversity of views & regularly invites figures across the political spectrum to write for us. Press freedom is guaranteed under the Basic Law, security law, Bill of Rights and Chinese constitution. Opinion pieces aim to constructively point out errors or defects in the government, law or policies, or aim to suggest ideas or alterations via legal means without an intention of hatred, discontent or hostility against the authorities or other communities.
9 May 2026
Hong Kong schools record net student rise for 2 years straight
Hong Kong schools have recorded net student rises for two consecutive years, with the current academic year seeing an increase of about 7,200 pupils, a surge that an industry leader has attributed to the influx of dependants of admitted talent. The Education Bureau published enrolment figures on its website on April 28. The data covers all government, aided, private, international and direct subsidy scheme schools at the time of the annual headcount exercise in September 2025. To determine the...
9 May 2026
Hong Kong secures US$3.5 billion to fund Northern Metropolis and green projects
Hong Kong has raised HK$27.6 billion (US$3.5 billion) through a green and infrastructure bond sale to finance the Northern Metropolis and low-carbon transformation projects. The offering drew investors from more than 30 markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, signalling global institutional investors’ confidence in Hong Kong’s development, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in a statement on Friday. Orders totalled about HK$239 billion, 8.6 times the offer size. The...
8 May 2026
SCMP takes home 3 honours from Global Media Awards, including win for infographic
The South China Morning Post has taken home three honours at the International News Media Association’s 2026 Global Media Awards, with its infographic on Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire winning first place for the best use of visual journalism. The awards were announced and presented in Berlin on Thursday, with the SCMP being the only Hong Kong media outlet recognised at the prestigious annual competition. This year’s awards event, which had 20 categories, drew a record 960 entries from 274 media...
8 May 2026
3 convicted in Hong Kong’s largest football match-fixing scandal in years
A Hong Kong court has convicted two footballers and a betting agent of bribing fellow players to rig game outcomes in the city’s largest match-fixing case in recent years. Former Hong Kong Under-23 player Brian Fok was convicted on Friday of five charges, including three counts of offering an advantage to an agent in violation of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. The 32-year-old Nigerian-born defender, together with fellow player Luciano Silva da Silva, 38, and betting agent Waheed Mohammad,...
8 May 2026
Janice Tse is the ‘property queen’ of Hong Kong ministers. Here’s what she owns
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Janice Tse Siu-wa has emerged as the biggest landlord among Hong Kong ministers after declaring that she has 25 properties in her name in the city, mainland China and the UK. The 61-year-old constitutional affairs chief also revealed that she or her family held shareholdings of more than 1 per cent in eight private companies, including two food-ingredient firms, more than any other principal official has declared. Tse’s portfolio comprises 23...
8 May 2026
2 women jailed up to 4 years, 10 months in money laundering case involving HK$280M smuggled from mainland China
Two Hong Kong women convicted of money laundering have been jailed for over three years for transporting over HK$280 million cash from mainland China to Hong Kong between 2018 and 2019. An aerial view of Lok Mak Chau check point on the Hong Kong border near the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Luo Xiaoping was sentenced to four years and ten months at the District Court, while Xiang Yurong was jailed for three years, local media reported . The two were convicted after a trial, in which they pleaded not guilty to a total of four counts of money laundering. Luo was accused of bringing cash through border checkpoints, with over 100 instances during which she carried more than HK$1 million per trip, the court heard. She was accused of smuggling around HK$270 million cash. Xiang brought money into Hong Kong an average of 10 times per month during the period of the offence, carrying around 200,000 to 300,000 RMB each time. She transported cash to Hong Kong as many as three times in a single day. In total, the two of them handled over HK$280 million of illicit cash, the court heard. District Court Deputy Judge Lily Wong said she accepted the fact that Xiang and Luo were just “mules,” but their offence inevitably brought a negative impact on Hong Kong and mainland China’s financial systems. Customs and Excise Department. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. The two were arrested in September 2019, but were only charged in April 2023. The defense argued that there was a delay in prosecution. They said that customs officers could have stopped Luo much earlier, yet they only took action after she had successfully transported cash into Hong Kong numerous times. However, Judge Wong disagreed with this argument, describing Luo as “acting with a gambler’s mindset” and committing the crimes out of pure greed, Ming Pao reported . According to the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence,” or “money laundering,” is punishable by a maximum penalty up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million. Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department said in a statement on Thursday that this is the first money laundering conviction involving travellers transporting large amount of cash-related items across the border since the Cross-boundary Movement of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments Ordinance came into effect in July 2018. Under the ordinance, anyone carrying over HK$120,000 in cash into Hong Kong must declare the sum to customs officers.
8 May 2026
Why the UK is unlikely to shut Hong Kong’s London trade office despite spying verdict
The operations of Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London will remain unaffected by a UK spying verdict, observers have said, arguing that the British government is unlikely to seek the body’s closure so as to maintain relations with Beijing. A British court on Thursday found Bill Yuen Chung-biu, the London HKETO’s manager, and Peter Wai Chi-leung, a retired Hong Kong police superintendent, guilty of spying on activists from Hong Kong on behalf of Chinese authorities. The Hong...
8 May 2026
Tai Po fire: building authorities slammed at inquiry for ‘mechanical mindset’
The “mechanical mindset” of Hong Kong building authorities has come under scrutiny at a hearing into the city’s deadliest fire in decades, with a former inspection director conceding his team had “blindly” followed outdated guidelines when deciding not to conduct on-site audits of renovation works at the housing estate ravaged in the blaze. Rudolf Lau Fu-kwok, who was the head of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit when the fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court last November, said on...
8 May 2026
CUHK hospital to repay HK$4 billion public loan early, drawing on growing reserves
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will dip into its reserves to repay a HK$4 billion (US$510.9 million) government loan owed by its debt-ridden private hospital, the institution’s council chairman has said. The finances of CUHK Medical Centre were on the agenda of Friday’s Legislative Council health panel meeting, but the discussion was rescheduled because the time was used up for other matters. Speaking to media after the meeting, council chairman John Chai Yat-chiu said his...
8 May 2026
Cathay Pacific to lower fuel surcharges for passenger flights by up to 14%
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways will lower its fuel surcharge fees for passenger flights by as much as about 14 per cent from May 16, after a series of increases that began in March. For long-haul flights, the surcharge will fall from HK$1,560 (US$199) to HK$1,362 per leg of the trip. For shorter journeys, such as those between Hong Kong and South Asia, the rate will drop to HK$633, down from HK$725. For flights from mainland China to Hong Kong, the surcharge will remain at HK$135,...
8 May 2026
Ex-head of gov’t checking unit ‘unaware’ of advance inspection notices, Tai Po fire probe told
A former head of the government’s housing checking unit has said he was “unaware” that his surveyors notified contractors ahead of inspections at Wang Fuk Court, the site of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades. People watch smoke coming from Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on November 27, 2025, a day after the fire broke out at the housing estate. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Rudolf Lau, who headed the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) when the tragedy struck, testified on Friday, the 24th day of hearings into the cause of the massive blaze. Just two days earlier, Andy Ku, a senior ICU maintenance surveyor, told the independent committee investigating the fire that the unit had alerted the renovation consultant ahead of site checks before the Tai Po housing estate went up in flames in November. Victor Dawes, lead counsel for the committee, had previously said that the inspection unit’s alerts may have tipped off the construction firm and given it opportunities to conceal wrongdoing. Lau, who retired in February, was asked by Jason Yu, counsel for the committee, on Friday whether he was aware of the advance notices, local media reported . Lau replied that he was “unaware” of the practice. ‘By the book’ Yu also grilled Lau on the ICU’s regulatory role, asking the reason for the unit’s oversights. Lau said the unit’s monitoring regime for minor works relied on contractors and consultants to self-regulate, as well as on complaints from residents. Yu challenged him, saying that unscrupulous individuals responsible for the maintenance works would not report themselves. The blackened exterior of an apartment block in Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po, on November 27, 2025, with what appears to be styrofoam boards attached to the windows. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. “Did the ICU leave the responsibility for inspection to residents?” Yu asked, noting that an average resident would not have been able to spot irregularities such as illegally altered windows and fire escape openings. Lau admitted there were blind spots in the unit’s regulatory regime but said it had reviewed its system since the Wang Fuk Court fire by conducting unannounced inspections. The former ICU head was also questioned about an inspection requirement that the unit was not made aware of until after the fire. Asked whether the ICU operated only “by the book,” blindly following Buildings Department (BD) protocols, Lau answered in the affirmative. “The [BD] manual did not require on-site safety inspections, so we did not do them,” he said. Wrapping up Friday’s hearing, committee chair David Lok said the government’s cross-departmental investigation report will be published on the committee’s website by May 15. The next round of hearings will continue after mid-June, he added.
8 May 2026
Hong Kong denies link to UK national security case after trade officer convicted of spying on activists
The Hong Kong government has denied any link to the high-profile UK court case after its trade officer was convicted of spying on overseas activists . The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. “From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are we party to the case,” a government statement sent to the media on Friday morning read. “We firmly oppose any unfounded allegations against the HKSAR Government and the London ETO.” The statement was issued shortly after Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai were found guilty under Britain’s national security laws of assisting a foreign intelligence service. Yuena and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain. From left: Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) official Bill Yuen and former UK Border Force officer Peter Wai. Photos: Metropolitan Police. Among those the pair were said to have surveilled was Nathan Law, who is wanted by national security police in Hong Kong with a bounty of HK$1,000,000. Yuen and Wai were charged in May 2024 alongside a third person, UK immigration officer Matthew Trickett. A week after Trickett was charged, he was found dead in a suspected suicide. In full: Explainer: Why UK authorities arrested 3 men linked to Hong Kong’s trade office According to a statement by UK counter-terrorism police, published after the guilty verdict on Thursday, Yuen had been receiving tasks from Hong Kong authorities and delegating them to Wai and Trickett. Up to 14 years jail Yuen and Wai were found guilty by a 10-2 jury verdict on Thursday. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office in relation to abusing Home Office systems while working as a border control officer. Yuen and Wai will be sentenced on a date yet to be determined. They face up to 14 years in jail. A Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong SAR flag in Hong Kong. Photo: GovHK. According to the Friday statement, Hong Kong has 15 overseas ETOs in different cities, including the UK capital. The London office maintains “close liaison with interlocutors in government, business, think tanks and various sectors to enhance the bilateral ties between Hong Kong and the UK in areas including trade, investment, and arts and culture,” it said. After the guilty verdict, the UK said that it would summon the Chinese ambassador. “We will continue to hold China to account and challenge them directly for actions which put the safety of people in our country at risk,” UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said on Thursday. “That is why the Foreign Office will summon the Chinese Ambassador to make it clear activity like this was, and will always be, unacceptable on UK soil.” In a statement issued the same day, the Chinese embassy in London condemned the verdict, saying that the UK had manipulated the judicial process as part of its “political move.” “Its sole purpose is to embolden those anti-China elements who are hiding in the UK and bent on destabilising Hong Kong, and to smear the Chinese government and the Hong Kong SAR government,” it said.
8 May 2026
Veteran politician Jeffrey Lam to lead Hung Shui Kiu industrial park operator
The Hong Kong government has appointed veteran politician Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung to chair the board of directors of the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company – the first entity established to accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis project. The Development Bureau said on Friday that the board of directors comprises five bureau chiefs and five non-official members, tasked with formulating a “forward-looking development positioning and strategy” for the 23-hectare logistics park, the...
8 May 2026
Australian remanded on fresh eat-and-run charges in Hong Kong a day after being fined
An Australian man has been remanded in custody and hit with fresh charges in Hong Kong for fleeing restaurants without paying more than HK$2,000 (US$255) in bills, just a day after being fined for similar offences. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was detained soon after he pleaded guilty at Eastern Court on Thursday to three charges – two of failing to pay HK$1,200 in bills at a restaurant and a massage parlour, and one count of common assault. He was fined HK$3,000 and ordered to use his bail...
8 May 2026
Taiwan welcomes Paraguay leader as China increases pressure
Taiwan rolled out the red carpet for Paraguay President Santiago Pena on Friday to shore up relations with its only South American ally, as Beijing urged Asuncion to sever ties with Taipei. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and Paraguay President Santiago Pena in Taipei on May 8, 2026. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office, via Flickr. Taipei has only 12 diplomatic allies after Beijing, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory, systematically poached the others in a bid to isolate the self-governed island. Pena is leading a delegation of government officials and business representatives on a four-day visit, and has described the island as a “fundamental partner” for the South American country. President Lai Ching-te officially welcomed Pena on Friday with military honours, including cannon salutes and red carpet, ahead of a sit-down meeting. Addressing the military parade under grey skies, Lai thanked Pena and his government “for long speaking up for Taiwan on the international stage”. “Taiwan and Paraguay are partners firmly committed to the values of democracy, freedom and human rights,” Lai said. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and Paraguay President Santiago Pena in Taipei on May 8, 2026. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office, via Flickr. Pena said: “Paraguay deeply values this relationship and reaffirms its commitment to continue supporting Taiwan in a strategic alliance based on shared values.” China’s foreign ministry called on Paraguay to “make the right choice” by cutting ties with Taiwan. Since arriving Thursday, Pena has met with Taiwan’s vice president and other senior government ministers. He also received an honorary doctorate from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, which he hailed as a reflection of the “solid alliance” between Taiwan and Paraguay. ‘Intense pressure’ During his meeting with Lai, Pena condemned Chinese military and economic pressure on Taiwan, and insisted Taipei has a “sovereign right to engage freely with other countries”. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and Paraguay President Santiago Pena in Taipei on May 8, 2026. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office, via Flickr. Paraguay and Taiwan were to sign agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, cooperation in cybersecurity, as well as an AI and computing infrastructure investment project. Taiwan’s other allies in the Americas are Guatemala, Belize and Haiti. It also has formal diplomatic ties with several Caribbean islands. Pena’s visit comes days after Lai returned from an official trip to Eswatini , Taiwan’s only ally in Africa. Taiwan has accused China of trying to stop Lai’s visit to Eswatini by applying “intense pressure” to the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar to revoke overflight permits for his original trip, which had been scheduled for April 22-26 and was cancelled at the last minute. Lai ended up using the Eswatini king’s plane to make the journey. Lai’s last official overseas trip was in November 2024, when he visited Taiwan’s Pacific allies and transited through the US territory of Guam. Pena had announced in July 2025 that Lai would visit Paraguay the following month. But the administration of US President Donald Trump reportedly denied Lai permission to transit through New York as part of the official trip to Latin America. Taiwan’s foreign ministry denied that Lai was blocked .
8 May 2026
Hong Kong-based mediation body resolves international maritime dispute
A new intergovernmental mediation body headquartered in Hong Kong has resolved a maritime dispute between parties from mainland China and Singapore this month, as more states have joined the organisation since its launch last year. Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, secretary general of the International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed), revealed the achievement on Friday at a summit, where senior officials reaffirmed Hong Kong’s pledge to be a mediation centre amid increasing volatility in global...
8 May 2026
US President Donald Trump heads for Xi summit overshadowed by Iran war
US President Donald Trump heads for a superpower summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week hoping the Iran war will not spoil the mood in Beijing. US President Donald Trump (left) and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegsesth (right) at a White House press briefing on April 6, 2026. Photo: The White House/Flickr. Trump will be expecting a lavish welcome at the high-stakes meeting, which he delayed in March because of the Middle East conflict. But the war will still loom large over his first visit to China since 2017, which is supposed to focus on easing tensions over trade and Taiwan between the world’s largest economies. Trump said the two leaders would discuss the issue and that Xi had been “very respectful” over Iran. Yet with Trump desperately seeking a deal to end the war before he lands in Beijing, China may seek to use his weakened position to extract concessions on key issues. “The reality is that right now, Iran is critical for the US and the Chinese know that,” said Edgard Kagan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). ‘Big, fat hug’ The world will be closely watching the Trump-Xi summit, but uncertainty over the timing and a lack of preparation mean deliverables are likely to be limited. For a US president obsessed with the idea of Great Power diplomacy, the main priority during the May 14-15 visit will be visuals of him being feted by a strongman fellow leader. Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a China-US bilateral meeting at the Gimhae International Airport terminal, in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, 2025. Photo: The White House, via Flickr. Trump, 79, has repeatedly talked up his “very good relationship” with Xi, 72, whom he met in South Korea last October, even saying the Chinese leader will give him a “big, fat hug” over Iran. He will also hope to come away from the summit with big business deals as he looks to midterm elections in which Republicans face a hammering over high oil prices from the Iran war. While some industry leaders say invitations have still not formally gone out, Trump’s administration plans to invite CEOs from companies including Apple, Exxon, Nvidia and Boeing, Semafor reported, with talk of a big Boeing deal in the offing. Trump will also be hoping to bring back deals on AI, critical minerals and fentanyl. One solid result that China in particular hopes for could be an extension of the fragile year-long trade truce that Trump and Xi agreed on in South Korea in October. The White House. Photo: White House, via Flickr. China has however shown that it is still ready to respond to Washington, saying on May 2 that it would not comply with US sanctions against firms targeted over Iranian oil transactions. “It appears that the truce is not as strong as we were hoping,” Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, told AFP. ‘A lot of leverage’ Communist-run China will meanwhile be looking for stability in a Trump-roiled world, and to play for time in the knowledge that the volatile US leader is on his second and final term in office. Beijing is also likely to use Trump’s weakened position to its advantage where it can. “There’s actually a lot of leverage there that Beijing could use,” said Patricia Kim, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Trump is looking for a win, right? I mean, he hasn’t had much wins in recent weeks with the war in Iran going on.” US and China flags. File photo: U.S. Army. Taiwan could be one area in particular where Xi may try to extract concessions, analysts say — for example on arms sales to the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. Trump has been known to go off-script on the thorny topic before and allies in the region who fear an assertive China will be closely watching for signs of US wavering. At the same time Beijing is likely to play up to Trump’s love of pomp and flattery, knowing that a slighted and angry Trump would cause trouble. But the Chinese will try to wash their hands of any involvement in the war on its ally Iran and deflect pressure from Trump during the meeting with Xi. Beijing’s hosting of Iran’s foreign minister this week was “a sign that they realize this is coming down the pike,” said Kagan from CSIS.
8 May 2026
Hong Kong urged to step up rodent checks despite no local residents on hantavirus-hit cruise ship
An infectious disease specialist has called on Hong Kong authorities to step up rodent checks, despite confirmation that no residents from the city were on board the hantavirus-hit cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. A microscope image of Hantavirus. Photo: Cynthia Goldsmith, USCDCP. Speaking on an RTHK programme on Friday, physician and infectious disease specialist Dr Joseph Tsang said the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) should conduct regular monitoring of rats. “The AFCD should conduct regular monitoring to test whether rats in the environment carry viruses,” he said. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) previously issued a statement on Thursday, saying there were no Hong Kong residents on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, which carried 147 passengers and crew members. The CHP also said that, as of Wednesday, no infections had been reported in Hong Kong. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of Thursday, there were eight reported cases linked to the MV Hondius, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus. ‘Cannot let our guard down’ Hantavirus is primarily transmitted through direct contact with the faeces, saliva or urine of infected rodents, or by inhaling aerosolised particles of their waste, according to the CHP. Human-to-human transmission is relatively rare, and there is currently no vaccine to prevent infection. A resident takes her rubbish to a refuse collection point, on May 31, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The risk to global health posed by the cruise ship incident is low, the CHP added, citing the WHO. Tsang said that, despite the low risk, he still urged cleaners to be aware of the dangers. “I wouldn’t say the risk of infection in Hong Kong is especially high, but we cannot let our guard down,” the physician said. “Hantavirus is usually concentrated in places with more rats, such as refuse collection points, rear stairwells, or the back alleys of restaurants. Sanitation workers should take particular care.”
8 May 2026
Tai Po probe: department ‘did its best’, repeatedly urged committee to hold meeting
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The deputy director of the Home Affairs Department and the former head of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) are the latest Hong Kong officials to testify at a public hearing on Friday into the city’s deadliest blaze in decades. Their cross-examination will also conclude the fourth round of evidential hearings held by the...
8 May 2026
2 UK-Chinese dual nationals convicted of spying on Hong Kong dissidents
A retired Hong Kong policeman and a former UK Border Force official were convicted by a London jury Thursday of conducting “shadow policing” on British soil on behalf of China. Ex-police superintendent Bill Yuen, 65, and Peter Wai, 38 — both dual Chinese-British nationals — were found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under Britain’s national security laws following a weeks-long trial. From left: Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO) official Bill Yuen and former UK Border Force officer Peter Wai. Photos: Metropolitan Police. Wai, who worked for the UK’s Border Force immigration and customs enforcement agency after previously serving in the British police and the Royal Navy, was also convicted of misconduct in a public office. He had searched the interior ministry’s computer system for people of interest to Hong Kong authorities. The jury at London’s Old Bailey court, which deliberated for nearly 24 hours, was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on a further foreign interference charge against each defendant. Prosecutors promptly announced they would not seek a retrial and the duo were remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on a date to be set on May 15. The court had heard how Wai had gathered intelligence on the orders of Yuen, who was a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO), which represents Hong Kong’s government in London. Politicians, campaigners The pair targeted Hong Kong dissidents and pro-democracy protesters living in Britain, with “special attention” also paid to politicians, including senior Conservative Iain Duncan Smith. They undertook information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception, with one operation capturing photographs of prominent campaigner Nathan Law. Pro-democracy activist Nathan Law. Photo: Nathan Law, via Facebook. Their activities coincided with Hong Kong authorities publishing bounties of around £100,000 (US$136,000) for information helping to identify several UK-based activists, including Law, jurors heard. Another protester told the jury of how Wai had threatened him with arrest for confronting a Hong Kong diplomat in London. Messages on Yuen’s phone showed surveillance of Law began as early as 2021, the prosecution said as it gave evidence. See also: ‘Your inner self is red’: UK border officer accused of ‘infiltrating’ Hong Kong pro-democracy group The defendants’ activities were exposed in May 2024 when police foiled an alleged bid to snatch a former Hong Kong resident from her flat in the northern county of Yorkshire, the court heard. Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, southwest of the capital — who was known to associates as Fatboy — and Yuen, of Hackney in east London, had both denied wrongdoing. The case comes in the wake of tens of thousands of people, including democracy activists wanted by Chinese authorities, moving to Britain since Hong Kong enacted a draconian National Security Law in mid-2020.
8 May 2026
Hong Kong needs the people’s wisdom for its 5-year plan to succeed
For decades, Hong Kong thrived as the world’s freest economy without five-year plans, while mainland China rose to become the world’s second largest economy through them. Now Hong Kong has the rare advantage of both: market dynamism and strategic direction. Harnessed through the collective wisdom of the people, this combination can deliver more than what the market or planning alone can achieve. Hong Kong is preparing its first five-year plan to dovetail with the national 15th five-year plan,...
8 May 2026
Hong Kong’s pinball wizards and claw fans defend arcade thrills as clamp looms
A Hong Kong homemaker sits alone at a pinball machine, engrossed in the game for an hour to kill time before picking up her sons from school for lunch on a weekday morning at a shopping centre in Sham Shui Po. The 47-year-old mother-of-two, who only identified herself as Mrs Cheung, said she played pinball machines at least twice a week at Dragon Centre, including once on the weekend with her family of four as entertainment. “We just have fun as a family and use the points we earn from the games...
8 May 2026
Hong Kong restaurants can apply for dog-friendly permits from May 18
Hong Kong restaurants with an area larger than 20 square metres can start applying for licences to allow dogs in their premises from May 18, the government has announced. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said in a statement on Thursday that it would accept applications from May 18 to June 8. Pixel, the HKFP news hound, welcomes the move. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. The department is set to approve the first batch of applications in mid-June, with dogs to be allowed in restaurants in July. The statement said that “the FEHD will specify a date in July from which dogs will be allowed to enter permitted food premises.” While the Food Business (Amendment) Regulation 2026 came into effect on Friday, the FEHD reminded the public that “restaurants must first submit an application and obtain approval before allowing dogs to enter.” Hotpot and barbecue restaurants are not eligible to apply for the permits, the government said, citing safety concerns. The FEHD will hold briefing sessions for restaurant operators from Monday to Wednesday next week, as well as on May 28. A Hong Kong restaurant. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The department said it would publish a list of dog-friendly restaurants once the first batch of permits is approved. The government said in February that it would issue 500-1,000 dog-friendly permits to local eateries in mid-June. Hong Kong leader John Lee announced the plan to relax an outdated policy banning dogs in restaurants in his 2025 Policy Address in September. The announcement to update the decades-old Food Business Regulation came after a pet-friendly restaurant in Tai Po had to suspend operations for seven days in January last year for allowing dogs inside.
7 May 2026
UK court convicts 2 men linked to Hong Kong trade office of spying
A British court has convicted two men linked to an Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) of spying on activists from the city on behalf of Chinese authorities. Bill Yuen Chung-biu, the London office’s manager, and Peter Wai Chi-leung were found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service on Thursday, two years after their arrests thrust the role of Hong Kong’s overseas promotion offices into the global spotlight. Yuen, a retired Hong Kong police superintendent, was earlier accused...
7 May 2026
Hong Kong school ordered to submit report after national flag hung upside down
Hong Kong education authorities have ordered a primary school to submit a report after a national flag was found hanging upside down on campus. The Education Bureau said on Thursday that it had followed up on the incident at F.S.F.T.F. Fong Shu Chuen Primary School in Fanling. Online images earlier showed that the national flag was hanging upside down on top of a building at the school. “The Education Bureau immediately contacted the school upon learning of the incident. The school promptly...
7 May 2026
Hong Kong seeks more details from WHO on hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship
Hong Kong health authorities are seeking more information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on an outbreak of a deadly hantavirus strain capable of limited human-to-human transmission on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, while ramping up efforts to prevent the rare disease from reaching the city’s shores. The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection revealed on Thursday that it had contacted the WHO about the hantavirus cluster found on the MV Hondius after the vessel departed...
7 May 2026
Gold futures set for Hong Kong comeback as mainland China’s appetite for the metal grows
The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) is pressing ahead with the relaunch of gold futures as mainland China’s appetite for the metal continues to grow. The city would continue to introduce new gold products and facilities to capture the growing opportunities of the gold market, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Thursday at the LME Asia Metals Seminar 2026 in Hong Kong. The HKEX planned to relaunch gold futures in coming months and seek market feedback to refine the products,...
7 May 2026