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Each year on 25 April, New Zealand’s overseas diplomatic posts commemorate ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corp) Day to recognise the sacrifices that New Zealand and Australian servicemen and women have played in defending their countries during the historical landings at Gallipoli in the Dardanelles and in other conflicts on distant shores.
For the sixth year, the ANZAC Day ceremony in Hong Kong was held at the Australian International School (AISHK) on 25 April 2007.
The Consuls-General of New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Turkey, along with representatives from a number of other organizations, laid wreaths at the ANZAC Memorial at the school. Members of the Australian and New Zealand Consulates-General, the New Zealand Society of Hong Kong, the New Zealand and Australian communities and their families and friends were present at the ceremony, which was followed by an informal gathering organised by the New Zealand Society of Hong Kong.top of page
The Consulate-General’s sponsorship of screenings of two New Zealand films at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival proved a successful venture with all screenings of Black Sheep and Out of the Blue being sold out. The films were well-received by audiences and so were the directors Mr Jonathan King (Black Sheep) and Mr Robert Sarkies (Out of the Blue), who participated in Meet-the-Director sessions at the screenings.
The events opened with a cocktail reception prior to the Asia premiere of Out of the Blue at the Hong Kong City Hall on 4 April. The reception and screening were attended by representatives from the local film industry, the arts, foreign consulates and Hong Kong Government officials.
At the premiere Consul-General Mr Julian Ludbrook said that the efforts by the Consulate-General to bring the latest quality creative New Zealand films to the local audience in Hong Kong had been worthwhile. He said, “I am thrilled by the success of these events, which proves that the local film festival audience is interested in quality New Zealand films”.
Over 1,300 tickets for the four screenings were sold within several days. The New Zealand films also attracted a wide range of media coverage, prior to the screenings. Black Sheep received rave reviews on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), and the directors were also interviewed by the South China Morning Post and RTHK4 for its Artbeat programme.
Minister of Transport, Police and Food Safety Hon Annette King opened the new Consulate-General in Guangzhou, China, on 26 April 2007 in this 35th year of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China. The opening ceremony was attended by both Chinese and New Zealand Government officials including Guangdong Province Executive Vice-Governor Mr Tang Bingquan, Ambassador to China Mr Tony Browne, and the first New Zealand Consul-General to Guangzhou, Mr Alan Young.
It is the first New Zealand consular office to open in China since the Consulate-General in Shanghai was opened in 1991. The upgrading of the NZTE office to Consulate-General status recognises the importance that Guangdong and southern China have in New Zealand's trade, cultural, political and economic relationship with China.
The Consulate-General takes over from the Guangzhou Representative Office of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), which had operated in Guangzhou for the past six years. The Consulate-General will continue to provide services to New Zealand exporters on the same basis as NZTE offices in the Consulates-General in Hong Kong and Shanghai and the Embassy in Beijing. It will also provide consular services in five provinces and autonomous regions in China: Guangdong Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hainan Province, Hunan Province and Fujian Province.
Details of the Consulate-General will be included in the next update of the Embassy's website.
New Zealand now has four offices with diplomatic status in China and Hong Kong: the Embassy in Beijing and Consulates-General in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.top of page
Chief Executive (CE) Mr Donald Tsang formally announced on 3 May a plan to reorganise the Government Secretariat, with effect from 1 July, 2007. The plan aims to rationalise the distribution of responsibilities between policy bureaux and to sharpen the Administration’s focus on important and complex issues to better facilitate implementation by the CE of the priority policy initiatives pledged during his election campaign. Mr Tsang commented that the proposal will not change the accountability system.
Pursuant to the proposed reorganisation, some of the portfolios of existing bureaux will be redistributed and one new bureau will be established to create a total of 12 bureaux, each of which will be headed by a Director of Bureau. Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Mr Stephen Lam later added that principal official candidates will be announced in late June. The following is the planned restructuring of departments and bureaux:
Mr Tsang said that, in the coming two months, the Government will follow up on the Action Agenda of the country's 11th Five-year Plan, and the Financial Secretary will start related work on finance, logistics, commerce and professional services. On constitutional development, Mr Tsang said that it is time to draw a conclusion. The Government will summarise the discussions in mid-2007 and publish a Green Paper for public consultation. He stressed that the discussion should not just focus on the date for having universal suffrage, but should also include road maps and election designs. He reiterated that all proposals should comply with the Basic Law.top of page
Various groups have submitted their proposed political blueprints for Hong Kong’s future Chief Executive (CE) and Legislative Council (LegCo) elections to the Commission on Strategic Development.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of HK (DAB) proposed universal suffrage for CE Elections by 2017 at the earliest, and for LegCo after 2017, with gradual phasing out of functional constituencies. The DAB suggested the CE in 2012 should be returned by an election committee, the nature of which would be similar to the current one, adding that its composition could be open for discussion before universal suffrage is introduced.
After four months of negotiations among members of the democratic camp, pan-democrat legislators reached a broad consensus on electoral reform on 2 March, releasing their blueprint for achieving universal suffrage in 2012.
The pan-democrats propose universal suffrage for both CE and LegCo Elections in 2012, with the abolition of functional constituencies in LegCo.
They propose that the 400 elected district councillors should be added to the 800-member Election Committee in 2012; that a candidate would need 50 nominations to run for CE in a one-person, one-vote poll; and that half the 60 legislators should be elected directly in single-seat constituencies and the other half by proportional representation.
The pan-democrats said they hoped that the Chief Executive would include the package in the constitutional reform green paper to be published this summer and forwarded to Beijing. Details of the pan-democrats’ democratic reform blueprint are available at www.2012us.com.
The Core Group set up by former Chief Secretary Mrs Anson Chan also released an alternative political reform blueprint on 5 March which, according to Mrs Chan, balanced idealism with realism.
She proposed universal suffrage LegCo Elections by 2016 at the latest, and for CE Elections in 2012, with the present 800-member Election Committee becoming the Nomination Committee. Functional constituencies would be redefined gradually to enlarge their electorate sizes and should be phased out by 2016. A candidate would need to be endorsed by at least 10% of the CE Election Committee, or 80 nominations, as against the 100 nominations at present, in order to be eligible to contest the CE Election.
CE Mr Donald Tsang said that he would try to forge a proposal for universal suffrage that would win the support of 60% of the public, and stressed that Hong Kong people would not accept any proposal for universal suffrage at the expense of the city's prosperity, way of life or relations with the Central Government. He reiterated that the Government will issue a green paper for public consultation by mid-year containing three proposals for universal suffrage, and will try to forge a consensus proposal for "an internationally recognised” model of universal suffrage for submission to Beijing.
A report on the three-month public consultation exercise on Hong Kong’s competition policy conducted between November 2006 and February this year was released on 19 March. The report indicates that there was support from the majority of respondents for the introduction of a cross-sector competition law in Hong Kong, rather than one that targets specific industries. The law will cover seven anti-competitive practices: price-fixing, bid-rigging, market division, sales and production quotas, joint boycotts, unfair or discriminatory standards, and abuse of dominant position, and exemptions will be given to parties with a market share of less than 20%. Results of the public consultation are available on the Hong Kong SAR website (link below):
A study entitled “Made in PRD – Challenges and Opportunities for Hong Kong Industry” conducted by a survey team led by the University of Hong Kong’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Richard Wong has found that more and more Hong Kong employees in Pearl River Delta (PRD) enterprises in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong Province are being replaced by mainland Chinese employees. The ratio of Hong Kong staff to mainland employees in companies interviewed in the Delta had dropped from 1:120 in 2003 to 1:170 last year. The study also found the PRD was believed to be less attractive compared with the Yangtze River Delta in terms of infrastructure, policy support and cultural and natural environment. According to the survey findings, about 55,200 Hong Kong-funded enterprises in the Delta, account for 72% of foreign-funded enterprises in the region. These enterprises are running 57,500 factories, which employ 9.6 million workers. The full report is available on the Industry Hong Kong website (link below).
Clashes broke out between protesters and 908 police during the May Day rally on 1 May demanding tougher laws against illegal workers entering Macao. Organisers suggested that 10,000 people took part in the rally, while the police estimated a turnout of 2,400. During five hours of scuffles, 21 officers were injured, and a police officer shot five times into the air to warn the crowd. A motorcyclist 300 metres away was accidentally wounded by a stray bullet. Ten protesters were arrested. Acting Commander of the Public Security Police Mr Lei Sio Peng described the violence as a riot.
Commenting on the incident at a meeting with senior press representatives, Chief Executive Mr Ho Hau-wah warned that the clashes that occurred during the demonstration were serious, and that protesters responsible for the conflicts had a political agenda and motivations. He commented that the methods used by the police during the incident were appropriate. The facts surrounding the firing of a shot gun are still being investigated. However Mr Ho suggested that the officer who fired the gun shots might have been a logistics staff member (as frontline officers were not allowed to carry guns), and explained that shots had been fired only in response to what appeared to be an emergency situation, in which several protesters had fallen and were at risk of being trampled.
Mr Ho also stressed that the call to improve transport, housing, resolving dissent, governance and transparency by the participants in the demonstration are exactly what the Government is working towards.top of page
Public confidence in the future of Hong Kong and China has reached a new high, a recent poll of 1,011 people by the University of Hong Kong’s public opinion programme showed. Trust in the Central Government has risen 17 percentage points since mid-February to 58%, the highest level since 1992. Confidence in Beijing's "one country, two systems" concept for ruling Hong Kong rose 10 percentage points from February to 78%, also the highest level since 1993. The survey also showed that trust in the Hong Kong Government had risen 13 percentage points over the past two months, to 63%, the highest score in a year.
Public confidence in Financial Secretary Mr Henry Tang has surged 12 percentage points from 62% to 74% after he presented the 2007/08 Budget, according to a poll of 1,008 people conducted between 1 and 6 March by the University of Hong Kong. The findings are in sharp contrast to public opinion in August, when the biggest loss of public confidence in the Financial Secretary - a 19 percentage point fall, to 50% - was recorded, after he outlined the case for a goods and services tax.
During his recent visit to Hong Kong, NPC Standing Committee Vice-Chairman Mr Cheng Siwei revealed that a supplementary agreement on further measures under Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) would be unveiled around July this year. He also called on Hong Kong to co-ordinate closely with the mainland to enhance the country's "financial competitiveness" on the world stage.
Legislator and Civic Party member Mr Ronny Tong told the press that the possibility of merging Civic Party and the Democratic Parity should not be ruled out, but this matter is not high up on his party’s agenda at the moment.
A new professional alliance named the Professional Commons is due to be inaugurated in June. The alliance is being launched by about 50 Election Committee members, most of whom nominated Mr Alan Leong in his bid for the CE post. About a dozen of them are Civic Party members, but they stress that the body is not affiliated to the party. The body aims to promote universal suffrage by 2012, monitor the Government's operation, push for civil participation in public affairs and promote independence among the professions. It is hoped that this could become a key tool for winning over the professional and business community to universal suffrage.
International businesses consider Hong Kong to be the second least-corrupt place to do business in Asia, after Singapore, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy survey of 13 economies has found. Hong Kong’s result is its best in a decade, with an average score of 1.87 in the poll, which measured grades from zero to 10, with zero being the best possible score and 10 the worst. Mainland China was ranked as the seventh most-corrupt place in the region.
Hong Kong continues to trail Singapore, and has now been overtaken by Tokyo, in terms of being the best city in Asia and the world for expatriates to live in, according to the annual ECA International Location Ranking Survey. Hong Kong’s ranking among all cities in the world has fallen from 18th position in 2002/03 to 23rd in 2006/07. Among the 48 Asian cities, it has fallen one spot to fifth place.
The Metropolis Competitiveness Study conducted by Chinese University's Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics last December, for which 210 chief executives of multinational corporations based in Hong Kong and Shanghai were interviewed, found that although Hong Kong’s score for competitiveness was still well above Shanghai's for the sixth consecutive year, the gap had narrowed from 0.94 to 0.87 in the past 12 months.
In a report submitted to the Government, the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting has suggested establishing an independent public broadcasting station to satisfy society's need for such services. It proposed that, to ensure its editorial independence, the new public broadcaster should be constituted as a statutory body with its funding coming primarily from the public coffers.
The Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants said there is a need to broaden the tax base in Hong Kong so that it does not have to rely too much on direct taxes, and the goods and services tax (GST) would be the most viable option that merits further consideration. The Institute said that the Government could also study other possible options such as capital gains tax, interest income tax, dividend tax, tax on worldwide income, green tax, and consumption tax on selective items. It also suggested that, if the Government reconsiders the GST, it should guarantee a low tax rate (3%) unchanged for five to ten years.
Hong Kong’s overall crime rate in the first quarter of 2007 rose 4.6% yoy, with 20,149 crime cases. Deceptions rose 25.5%, wounding and serious assault cases 11.5%, and serious narcotics offences 39.3%, whereas burglaries dropped 20.1%, robberies 28.3% and homicides 62.5%. Secretary for Security Mr Ambrose Lee said that the city is still secure despite the rise.top of page
Secretary for the Economy and Finance Mr Francis Tam forecast that Macao's economic growth rate in 2006 may exceed 15%, but warned that unbalanced development, lack of human resources and inflation are the major problems Macao is facing in terms of economic development.
| Period | NZ Total Exports to HK (FOB NZ$m) | % of market share | Yoy change |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2006-March 2007 | 578 | 1.65 | +10% |
| February 2007 | 48 | +33.6% | |
| March 2007 | 45 | +9.4% |
(Source: Statistics New Zealand)
| Indicator | Figure | Period | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Gross Domestic Product | US$188.8 bn | 2006 | +6.8% yoy |
| 2. Economic growth | +7% | 4th Q 2006 preliminary | |
| 3. Economic growth forecast | +4.5 to 5.5% | FY2007 | revised forecast |
| 4. Population | 6.91 million | end 2006 | +0.9% yoy |
| 5. Fiscal surplus | HK$58.6 bn | 2006/07 | +6.4% yoy |
| 6. Foreign currency reserves | US$136.3 bn | Feb 2007 | +6.4% yoy |
| 7. Monetary base | HK$299.1 bn | 30 Apr 2007 | +22% yoy |
| 8. Hang Seng Index | 20 319 | 28 Feb 2007 | +25.3% |
| 9. Inflation rate | +2.4% yoy | Mar 2007 | |
| 10. Prime interest rate | 6.75% | Apr 2007 | |
| 11. Property transactions | |||
| a. sales value | HK$39 bn | Apr 2007 | +95% yoy |
| b. no of transactions | 9 530 | Jan 2007 | +39.1% yoy |
| 12. Retail sales value | HK$18.9 bn | Mar 2007 | +5% yoy |
| 13. Unemployment rate | 4.3% | Jan-Mar 2007 (provisional) | |
| 14.a. Total exports | HK$206.8 bn | Mar 2007 | +6.9% yoy |
| b. Total imports | HK$253.2 bn | Mar 2007 | +1.3% yoy |
| c. Total re-exports | HK$199.3 bn | Mar 2007 | +9% yoy |
| 15. Visitor arrivals | 2.16 m | Mar 2007 | +2.9% yoy |
(Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13. Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department 5,6,7. Hong Kong Monetary Authority 9. HSBC 10. Hong Kong Land Registry 14. Hong Kong Tourism Board)top of page
Hong Kong-New Zealand Business Association Inc
Postal Address: P O Box 105-009, Central Auckland, New Zealand
Tel: +64 (9) 443 3337
Fax: +64 (9) 443 3331
Email: hknzba@clear.net.nz
Website: www.hknzba.co.nz
New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
New Zealand Focus
2/F, Island Building,
439-445 Hennessy Road,
Causeway Bay,
Hong Kong
Tel: +(852) 2536 4469
Fax: +(852) 2810 9068
Contact: The Executive Officer
Email: exec@nzcchk.com
Website: www.nzcchk.com
New Zealand Society of Hong Kong
GPO Box 8817, Hong Kong
Tel: +(852) 6114 5583
Contact: The membership Officer
Email: members@nzshk.org
Website: www.nzshk.org
HK$7.827=US$1.00 (approx)
HK$5.76=NZ$1.00 (approx)
The print version of “Hong Kong Review” is available from
New Zealand Consulate-General
6501 Central Plaza,
18 Harbour Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: +(852) 2525 5044
Fax: +(852) 2845 2915
Email: nzcghk@gigalinkmail.com
