Politics

By Mari Chow Former Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption this morning with two counts of misconduct in public office. He has been released on $100 thousand bail after appearing at the Eastern Magistrates' Court this afternoon to answer the two charges, which made him the highest-ranking Hong Kong government official ever to face a corruption trial. The first charge alleges that when Mr Tsang was in office, he failed to disclose his interest in dealings with a major shareholder of Wave Media Limited, later renamed Digital Broadcasting Corporation Hong Kong, when the council discussed and approved its licence applications. The second one alleges that he "willfully misconducted himself" by failing to disclose his interests in the lease of a Shenzhen flat and the engagement of an architect responsible for the interior design work of that flat. Mr Tsang proposed the architect be referred for consideration for nomination under the city's honours and awards system. Mr Tsang, 70, stepped down from the Chief Executive position in 2012 and has since been investigated by the ICAC for allegedly accepting luxury favours from business people, which include low apartment rents and rides on private yachts and jets. But Mr Tsang insisted he had no conflict of interest. He showed confidence of being found innocent in a statement faxed to media earlier today. "My conscience is clear," it says. "I have every confidence that the court will exonerate me after its proceedings." Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said the decision to commence prosecution was made in accordance to the related law and evidence. "There is no political consideration in the prosecution," he told reporters at ICAC today. Misconduct in public office leads to a maximum penalty of seven years in jail. The …

By Crystal Tse   "He is super charismatic," said a woman from California. A Korean woman said, "If my future husband is like him, I will be happy." "I would like a president like this," said another woman. These comments came from a video published this week by the People's Daily, a Chinese newspaper often described as the Communist Party's mouthpiece, during President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States. The video claims to show what foreigners (or at least, foriegners living in China) think about the Chinese president. The videos were filmed at university campuses around Beijing and featured international students, most of them Americans. It was first posted on YouTube and Twitter, both of which are blocked in China. A subtitled version was posted on the People's Daily mobile site hours later. An American student, wearing lapel pins of both the US and Chinese flag, said he owns a copy of Mr Xi's book The Governance of China and "would love to read it". Chinese viewers who don't speak English will not know he hasn't actually read the book, because, as the New York Times pointed out, the Chinese subtitle says he "loves reading it". In the video, the president is referred to as "Xi Dada". Dada is a respectful and friendly nickname for men who are older than fathers. "I really like his foreign policy. He really try to communicate with all the countries," said 20-year-old Thibault Odiot in the video. Mr. Odiot, a French-school sponsored student who is pursuing a master's degree in China Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies, said during a Skype interview that the speculation that students were paid to speak in the video is untrue, but he admits to having self-censored. "When you are a foreigner living in the country, you don't want to …

  By Viola Zhou   As 12,000 troops and rows of tanks march past the Tiananmen Square, Vivian Leung, a university student in Hong Kong, is still in her sound dream. On September 3, the one-time public holiday set up by Beijing commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Ms Leung prefers to take some rest rather than watching her country showcasing her national power. "I have no interest in it," says the 21-year-old business student at the City University of Hong Kong. "The war against Japan was not even led by the Communist Party. I don't understand why they are celebrating." This one-off holiday is officially named the The 70th Anniversary Day of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Despite being a huge deal in China, it fails to capture the heart of university students in the Special Administrative Region, where the younger generation has led protests against national patriotic education and generally feels distant from the China and its war history. A few minutes into watching the parade live on television, 20-year-old Manman Chau finds it boring. "It is just a show," says Ms Chau, who studies Chinese medicine at the University of Hong Kong. "I don't care how strong the Chinese military is. It has nothing to do with me." Ms Chau says she does not mind one more holiday. But Ms Leung does not quite appreciate it saying that China's victory means little to ordinary people in Hong Kong. In the former British colony, public holidays with national significance are often when people turn to the street to express their dissatisfaction towards the government. For instance, the July 1 Handover Day, is a holiday meant to celebrate Hong Kong's returning to the Communist rule, yet has become a day of …

Locals schools will be given $120,000 grants to establish partnership with mainland schools. EDUCATORS have expressed concerns over a government proposal to encourage more local schools to team up with sister schools on the mainland, saying its objective is questionable and would put pressure on teachers and schools. Chief Executive Mr Leung Chun-ying announced in his 2015 policy address that the government would provide an annual grant of $120,000 to each local public sector school and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools that has a sister mainland school. According to the Education Bureau, the grant will be used to fund exchanges in areas such as school management, lesson demonstration, lesson evaluation and idea conferencing with a view to enhancing experience sharing and teaching effectiveness. The sister school scheme was launched in 2004. Since then, 420 local primary and secondary schools have established partnerships with schools in the mainland. But this year is the first time the government has backed the scheme with a subsidy that aims to boost the partnership number to 600. But Mr Leung Kee-cheong, principal of the Fresh Fisher Traders' School, said the scheme would put unprecedented pressure on teachers and schools. According to his experience, teachers in charge of an exchange tour are required to take on a lot of responsibilities on top of their teaching duties, such as doing research on destinations, leading large groups of students abroad and writing post-visit reports. Meanwhile, a shortage of teachers would negatively impact on students' learning process, as schools are not allowed to recruit supply teachers unless teachers fall ill. "Imagine if one class teacher has to be away to lead a school tour for five days, it will increase the burden of other teachers in our school," said Mr Leung. He believed the scheme could help relieve pressure faced …

Consumers still being misled despite the amended Trade Description Ordinance   Miss Ng, 49, once found that the checkout price for a pack of discounted biscuits she purchased in a supermarket was three times higher than the displayed price. She immediately informed the cashier and was given a refund. Hers is not the only case. The Consumer Council bought 252 discounted items from 15 supermarkets in June and July this year and found price discrepancies for 18 products. The Council has warned retailers against displaying so-called "strike- through price" – higher prices crossed out on price tags to mislead consumers - as they would be at the risk of violating the amended Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which prohibits the dissemination of any false, misleading or incomplete information on goods or services. The maximum penalty on conviction is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years. But Mr Ronny Tong Kah-wah, a lawmaker representing the New Territories East constituency, said the Ordinance cannot protect consumers' interests at all, as there is no real deterrence and the prosecution rate has been low. The Customs and Excise Department, Office of the Communications Authority and Council Council received 2,955 complaints from July to December last year, but only six complaints investigated led to prosecutions. This put the rate of prosecution at 0.2 per cent over a 6-month period. Mr Tong said as the departments concerned do not really treat the breaches as a criminal offence, they have to take a long time to process customers' complaints. He said a problem of the current Ordinance is that it does not have provisions to monitor the civil compliance-based enforcement mechanism. Customers often find that the checkout price of a product is higher than the displayed price. While consumers are facing the risks of being misled, the retail …