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Albert Chau and Man-Chun Lee
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Hilaf Hasson and Jeffrey Yelton
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S. S. Lohvinenko and K. V. Ralchenko
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Yu. V. Kozachenko and I. V. Rozora
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C. De Filippis and G. Mingione
St. Petersburg Math. J. 31 (2020), 455-477.
Abstract, references and article information

Time: 9:00 AM, Location: Senate Chamber

S. Waleed Noor and Osmar R. Severiano
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2469-2476.
Abstract, references and article information

N. Arcozzi, K. Domelevo and S. Petermichl
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Abstract, references and article information

The Security Bureau today said that the last Hong Kong resident who had contracted COVID-19 while aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship and was hospitalised in Japan has returned to Hong Kong.

Immigration Department staff that assisted Hong Kong residents in Japan have completed their mission and returned to Hong Kong as well.

In early February, a cluster of COVID-19 infection cases occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise docked in Yokohama.

Of some 3,700 passengers and crew, about 370 were from Hong Kong. The 712 confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with the cruise included 76 Hong Kong residents who were hospitalised in Japan for isolation and treatment.

While three Hong Kong residents passed away, the remaining 73 patients returned to Hong Kong or their places of residence after being discharged from the hospital.

As for other Hong Kong residents on the cruise, the bureau noted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government arranged three flights, between February 19 and 23, to escort 193 of them back to the city.

Upon arrival, they were transferred to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Another 144 Hong Kong residents returned on their own via other flights, including 25 close contacts of the patients who had completed quarantine in Japan.

For those who returned to Hong Kong on their own and did not complete 14 days of quarantine in Japan, they were required to complete the remaining quarantine period at a quarantine centre.

Of the 231 cruise passengers admitted to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate, nine tested positive for COVID-19 and were sent to hospitals for isolation and treatment.

The Hong Kong SAR Government expressed profound condolences on the passing of the Hong Kong patients and its deepest sympathies to their families.

The SAR Government emphasised that the incident could not have been resolved smoothly without the staunch support of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Japan and Japanese authorities.

The SAR Government also thanked Cathay Pacific Airways and the Airport Authority for their assistance, the bureau added.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng today emphasised that Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma had stated he has not experienced interference from Mainland authorities.

Speaking to the media at the Legislative Council, Ms Cheng called on the public to read the Chief Justice’s statement in response to a media report about Hong Kong’s judicial independence.

Ms Cheng said: "The Chief Justice stated that since his taking office in 2010, he has not encountered nor experienced any interference from the Mainland authorities in any shape or form that affects judicial independence, including the appointment of judges.

"Nothing is better than the direct evidence of the Chief Justice himself telling us that there is not any such interference."

The Financial Secretary just delivered the latest Budget on Wednesday. The Department of Justice would foster the policy initiatives relating to "Diversified Economy" and continue our ongoing works. The Inclusive Dispute Avoidance & Resolution Office (IDAR Office, email: idar@doj.gov.hk), which was set up in January last year, is to better co-ordinate and implement initiatives in the areas of dispute avoidance and resolution, thereby further consolidating our position as an international legal and dispute resolution services centre in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Department of Justice has always been actively striving for the presence of international dispute resolution bodies in Hong Kong in order to meet the upsurge in demand for legal and dispute resolution services arising from the Belt & Road Initiative and the Greater Bay Area Plan. Their presence in Hong Kong would also enhance our status as a leading centre for international legal and dispute resolution services. With the support of the Central People's Government, we are now exploring the possibility for the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) to establish a regional centre for international commercial arbitration in Hong Kong.

Last year, the inter-sessional meetings of the Judgments Project of the Hague Conference on Private International Law were successfully concluded in Hong Kong. This invaluable experience has reinforced our determination in looking for decision-making meetings of international and intergovernmental organisations to be held in Hong Kong, including hosting the 59th Annual Session of AALCO and an intersessional meeting of UNCITRAL's Working Group III this year. High ranking government officials and legal experts from member states would take part in these meetings to discuss matters such as maritime law and cyber space law.

In addition, we are committed to strengthening Hong Kong's status as a regional capacity building centre which seeks to enhance legal infrastructure in the neighbouring regions and facilitate cross-border mobility and business activities. For instance, the Department of Justice organised the Investment Law & Investor-State Mediator Training Course for two consecutive years since 2018. World-renowned trainers were invited to share with the participants their experience in international investment law and investor-state mediation. We would be stepping up our efforts in organising capacity building courses in dispute resolution.

At the same time, the Department of Justice has reached an agreement with the Hague Academy of International Law, one of the world's leading academic institutes on international law, to support them in organising law courses in Hong Kong regularly in collaboration with the Asian Academy of International Law from this year. We anticipate this cooperation would provide Hong Kong and the neighbouring regions with high quality training for legal professionals, which helps further raise our international profile.

Looking ahead, colleagues in the Department of Justice would keep pursuing co-operation or partnership agreements with other jurisdictions and international organisations and host important events in Hong Kong, with a view to raising the international profile of Hong Kong in deal-making and dispute resolution through overseas capacity building and promotional activities.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on March 1.

The Government will launch a series of measures to retain and create jobs to prevent massive layoffs amid record levels of unemployment and underemployment for the first three months of the year.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment rates have soared recently due to the severe blow dealt by the COVID-19 epidemic to Hong Kong’s economy.

With reference to the practice of some overseas governments in providing wage subsidies to employers and following the funding approval by the Legislative Council Finance Committee, the Government will launch the $81 billion Employment Support Scheme (ESS) as soon as possible.

The scheme will provide time-limited financial support to employers to retain workers who will inevitably be made redundant due to the downturn in business.

The provision of subsidies for employers, together with other relief measures and loan arrangements under the Anti-epidemic Fund and the 2020-21 Budget will help businesses stay afloat and retain jobs to prepare for a quick recovery once the epidemic is over.

Except for the Government, statutory bodies and government-funded organisations whose employees' salaries are not affected by the epidemic, employers who have been making Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions or have set up Occupational Retirement Schemes will be eligible for the ESS.

Employers joining the scheme have to provide an undertaking not to implement redundancies during the subsidy period and spend all wage subsidies from the Government in paying wages to their employees.

Wage subsidies provided under the ESS are calculated based on 50% of wages in a specified month subject to a wage cap of $18,000 per month for six months.

Payment will be made in two tranches, with the first payout no later than the end of June to subsidise employers to pay employees' wages from June to August.

After approval of the application, the number of employees on payroll shall not be less than the number of employees in March and the wage subsidies applied by employers must be used fully for employees' wages.

Under the ESS, self-employed people who have contributed to the MPF from January 1, 2019 to March 31 will be granted a one-off subsidy of $7,500.

The scheme is expected to benefit over 260,000 employers who have been making MPF contributions or have set up Occupational Retirement Schemes for 1.7 million employees, and about 215,000 self-employed people.

Employers and employees in the catering, construction and transport sectors that are not covered by the MPF will be taken care of by sector-specific schemes.

Regarding job creation, the Government has earmarked $6 billion to create about 30,000 time-limited jobs in public and private sectors in the coming two years for people of different skills and academic qualifications.

This is in addition to more than 10,000 civil service job openings for replacing retirees and filling new posts to be created in the 2020-21 Estimates, and about 5,000 short-term interns for young people.

In the second half of the year, the Labour Department will raise the ceiling of the on-the-job training allowance payable to employers under the Employment Programme for the Elderly & Middle-aged, the Youth Employment & Training Programme and the Work Orientation & Placement Scheme to further encourage employers to hire seniors, youngsters and the disabled.

The department plans to launch a pilot scheme in the second half of the year to encourage these people to undergo and complete on-the-job training under the above-mentioned employment programmes through the provision of a retention allowance.

A time-limited unemployment support scheme will be launched through the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme at the same time to provide timely and basic financial support to the unemployed who may not be covered by the ESS.

To maintain Hong Kong's economic vibrancy and relieve the financial burden of the public under the epidemic, the Government has introduced the largest package of relief measures to date, including the one-off relief measures in the Budget costing $120 billion and two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund totalling $287.5 billion.

This accounts for about 10% of Hong Kong's gross domestic product, the Government added.

The Government said it will continue to spare no effort in improving workers' benefits and protection and enhance occupational safety and health in various industries at a pace commensurate with Hong Kong's overall socio-economic development.

The Government made the statement today in response to the demands of different labour groups, noting that it would take into account both employees' interests and employers' abilities to afford the benefits, despite the severe blow dealt by the COVID-19 epidemic to the local economy.

"The seasonally adjusted unemployment and underemployment rates for January to March this year have soared to their highest levels in recent years. The labour market will continue to face significant pressure in the near term.

“The Government has rolled out relief measures of unprecedented scale, including the one-off measures in the 2020-21 Budget and two rounds of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund (AEF) totalling $287.5 billion, with a view to preserving the vitality of the economy and relieving people's financial burden.

“The Government will launch as soon as possible the Employment Support Scheme under the second round of the AEF, with a total commitment of $81 billion, to provide time-limited financial support to employers to help them retain employees who will otherwise be made redundant.”

Moreover, the Government explained that it has earmarked $6 billion to create around 30,000 time-limited jobs in the public and private sectors in the coming two years for people with different skills and academic qualifications.

It emphasised that the Labour Department will raise the ceiling of on-the-job training allowance payable to employers under the Employment Programme for the Elderly & Middle-aged, the Youth Employment & Training Programme and the Work Orientation & Placement Scheme in the second half of this year.

It will also launch a pilot scheme to encourage eligible participants of these programmes to undergo and complete the training by offering a retention allowance.

On improvements to other labour benefits, the Government pointed out that it is working at full steam on the preparatory work to abolish the arrangement of 'offsetting' severance payments and long service payments with employers' mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund System.

It stressed that it will strive to introduce the enabling bill into the Legislative Council by the end of this year, aiming to secure its passage by 2022.

Meanwhile, the Government introduced the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2019 into LegCo on January 8 this year. The bill, which proposes to extend statutory maternity leave by four weeks, is now being handled by the LegCo Panel on Manpower.

The Chief Executive announced on January 14 this year 10 new initiatives on improving people's livelihood, one of which is to increase progressively the number of statutory holidays so that it will be on par with that of general holidays.

The Government stated that it will work out the relevant proposal, invite the Labour Advisory Board to discuss, and will facilitate and support its work.

The Minimum Wage Commission is conducting a new round of review on the Statutory Minimum Wage rate and will submit a report on its recommendation to the Chief Executive in Council by end-October.

The Government added that it attaches great importance to employees' occupational safety and health.

It said the Labour Department has been adjusting its strategies of inspection and enforcement, publicity and promotion, education and training according to the occupational safety and health risk levels of different industries as well as taking sufficient precautionary measures to prevent accidents by driving employers and employees to work together.

Janine Freeman
Jul 1, 2004; 17:137-140
Nutrition FYI

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has rejected allegations made by certain officials and politicians in the United States, United Kingdom and European Parliament relating to an April 18 arrest operation and other security matters.

In a statement today, the Hong Kong SAR Government said such allegations were totally unfounded and amounted to a serious intervention in Hong Kong's affairs.

The SAR Government strongly disagreed with the grossly irresponsible remarks and expressed deep regret about them.

It pointed out that since its return to the Motherland, the HKSAR has maintained stability and prosperity under the principle of "one country, two systems", exercising "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy in strict accordance with the Basic Law (BL).   

"The Central Government has time and again reiterated that it will unswervingly implement the policy of one country, two systems' and make sure that it is fully applied in Hong Kong without being bent or distorted. 

“How to implement the policy in the HKSAR - an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China (BL Article 1) and a local administrative region of the People's Republic of China which shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy and come directly under the Central People's Government (BL Article 12) - are entirely internal affairs of the People's Republic of China.

“No other state has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, in those internal affairs.”

The statement noted Hong Kong people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms which are enshrined in the Basic Law. Basic Law Article 4 states that the HKSAR shall safeguard the rights and freedoms of the residents and of other persons in the region in accordance with law. 

“In addition, human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong are fully protected by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance and other legislation, and underpinned by an independent judiciary."

The SAR Government said it always respects and protects human rights and freedoms. Any allegation that there has been an erosion in freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong people is unfounded.

However, these rights are not absolute. As pointed out by the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal at the Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2020: "It is important to understand that the enjoyment of these rights has limits so as not to affect adversely to an unacceptable level the enjoyment by other members of their community of their rights and liberties."

There are clear limits in the law as to the exercise of these rights. When the law is broken, action will be taken in accordance with the criminal justice system.

"We therefore take great exception to comments made by officials and politicians in foreign countries concerning the recent arrests and prosecution of a number of persons for organising and participating in unauthorised assemblies in Hong Kong. 

“The allegation by some that those arrests amounted to an attack on Hong Kong's freedoms and a breach of the BL is absurd and can hardly stand the test of any law-abiding jurisdiction," the statement emphasised.

It also pointed out that Basic Law Article 63 provides that "The Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall control criminal prosecutions, free from any interference." 

Prosecutors have always been discharging this constitutional duty independently and professionally, without fear or favour. Prosecutorial decisions are based on an objective assessment of all admissible evidence and applicable laws, made strictly in accordance with the Prosecution Code which is available to the public.

Cases will not be handled any differently owing to the political beliefs or background of the persons involved.

When law enforcement agencies have completed their investigation, they would seek legal advice from the Department of Justice. The prosecutors would carefully consider the investigation reports and relevant materials submitted. A prosecution would only be commenced if the prosecutor is satisfied that there is sufficient admissible evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction.

In short, the well-established procedures of Hong Kong's criminal justice system include the independent investigations by law enforcement agencies, the independent prosecutorial decisions based on the objective assessment of evidence, applicable laws and in accordance with the Prosecution Code, and finally, open trials by an independent judiciary. 

"The guarantee of judicial independence is explicitly set out in the BL and the quality of the judgments of our courts contributes to the much respected judiciary and rule of law in the HKSAR.

"We therefore note with abhorrence certain overseas politicians' request that the HKSAR Government should drop the charges against the arrested individuals. If we were to accede or to be seen to yield to such unreasonable demands, we would not only be unfair and unprofessional but would also act in violation of the spirit of the rule of law – a core value in Hong Kong," the statement added.

The SAR Government remains steadfast to uphold the rule of law. The latest Rule of Law Index 2020 released by the World Justice Project, in which Hong Kong maintains its ranking as No. 5 in the East Asia and Pacific Region and No. 16 globally, several places ahead of the United States, has clearly affirmed Hong Kong's commitment.

On legislating for Basic Law Article 23, the statement said, "The HKSAR Government has the constitutional duty to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place to safeguard national security.

“Having laws in place to protect national security is common in many jurisdictions, and we do not see how any defence of sovereignty and security by a jurisdiction would impact on its local and overseas investment. 

“Coincidentally, it is relevant to note security issues arising from the social unrest last year were part of the causes affecting Hong Kong's score under 'Investment Freedom' according to the US-based Heritage Foundation 2020 Index of Economic Freedom."

As regards enquiries about the role of the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO) and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government (LOCPG) in the HKSAR, they represent the Central People's Government to which the HKSAR comes directly under pertaining to Basic Law Article 12. 

These offices have the power and responsibility over the proper and full implementation of the Basic Law and "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong.

It is therefore clearly legitimate for the HKMAO and LOCPG to recently express their concerns over the prolonged paralysis of the Legislative Council House Committee, thereby hindering LegCo's performance of its legislative functions under the Basic Law.

"Any suggestion that those legitimate remarks by the HKMAO and the LOCPG amount to interference only illustrates an ignorance of the constitutional order of the HKSAR and its relationship with the Central Authorities," the SAR Government added.

Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip today visited the Inland Revenue Department and the Labour Department to inspect the resumption of public services.

The Government had earlier announced that public services will be resumed under a phased approach.

Counter services of most government departments have returned to normal.

Mr Nip first visited the Inland Revenue Department in Revenue Tower and was briefed on counter services at the Central Enquiry Counter, the Business Registration Office and the Stamp Office.

He learnt that the department has implemented various infection control and crowd management measures, such as a ticketing system, to safeguard the health of colleagues and the public.

Later Mr Nip visited the Hong Kong East Job Centre and a recruitment centre for the catering and retail industries and was briefed on the resumption of normal services at the Labour Department's job and recruitment centres.

He said: “While maintaining a high degree of vigilance and adopting all necessary precautionary measures, the Government gradually resumed public services today in a smooth and orderly manner.

“Various infection control measures have been put in place at government buildings and offices. These include checking the body temperature of persons at entrances, providing alcohol-based hand sanitiser and enhancing the cleaning of public facilities.

“The Government will closely monitor the situation to determine when to embark on full resumption of normal business.”

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