South Korea’s Yoon used decoys for work, police head says amid hangover allegations
By Park Chan-kyong
South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk-yeol allegedly used decoy convoys to create the appearance he was reporting to work at regular hours, according to a police official.
The revelation, amid a whistle-blower’s allegations that he had arrived late to work 10 times in 21 working days, has fuelled allegations Yoon was mostly recovering from hangovers, with critics noting the leader’s love for alcohol.
Facing intense scrutiny from opposition lawmakers on Thursday, acting National Police Agency head Lee Ho-young admitted to the existence of decoy tactics, referred to by the force as “fake discharge”.
Traffic surveillance footage reportedly showed a convoy of vehicles leaving the president’s residence past 1pm on November 29.
News outlets alleged that a decoy escort left the residence at 9am, followed hours later by another convoy believed to be carrying Yoon.
Lawmaker Yoon Kun-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea revealed to the National Assembly’s administration committee on Friday that the president arrived late to work 10 times in the 21 working days last month.
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By Park Chan-kyong
South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk-yeol allegedly used decoy convoys to create the appearance he was reporting to work at regular hours, according to a police official.
The revelation, amid a whistle-blower’s allegations that he had arrived late to work 10 times in 21 working days, has fuelled allegations Yoon was mostly recovering from hangovers, with critics noting the leader’s love for alcohol.
Facing intense scrutiny from opposition lawmakers on Thursday, acting National Police Agency head Lee Ho-young admitted to the existence of decoy tactics, referred to by the force as “fake discharge”.
Traffic surveillance footage reportedly showed a convoy of vehicles leaving the president’s residence past 1pm on November 29.
News outlets alleged that a decoy escort left the residence at 9am, followed hours later by another convoy believed to be carrying Yoon.
Lawmaker Yoon Kun-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea revealed to the National Assembly’s administration committee on Friday that the president arrived late to work 10 times in the 21 working days last month.
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Canadians fume over Donald Trump’s ‘humiliating’ annexation taunt
By Agence France-Presse
The political circumstances that surrounded the publication of Ultimatum, once a bestselling novel that imagined an American effort to annex Canada, may ring familiar to anyone following recent headlines.
A US leader announces tariffs on Canadian imports, signalling a more confrontational relationship, and a prime minister named Trudeau scrambles to respond.
But the American, in this case, was former president Richard Nixon and the Canadian leader was Pierre Elliott Trudeau – father of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Nixon and the elder Trudeau are long dead, but the author of Ultimatum, published in 1973, is D-Day veteran Richard Rohmer, the honorary lieutenant general of the Canadian armed forces, who recently turned 101.
Still an avid news consumer and writer, Rohmer said that remarks by president-elect Donald Trump implying that Canada could be absorbed by the United States should not be laughed off.
“This man has to be taken seriously,” he said. “He is a man with great imagination who has ideas about what he can do and what he cannot do, and as far as Canada is concerned.”
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By Agence France-Presse
The political circumstances that surrounded the publication of Ultimatum, once a bestselling novel that imagined an American effort to annex Canada, may ring familiar to anyone following recent headlines.
A US leader announces tariffs on Canadian imports, signalling a more confrontational relationship, and a prime minister named Trudeau scrambles to respond.
But the American, in this case, was former president Richard Nixon and the Canadian leader was Pierre Elliott Trudeau – father of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Nixon and the elder Trudeau are long dead, but the author of Ultimatum, published in 1973, is D-Day veteran Richard Rohmer, the honorary lieutenant general of the Canadian armed forces, who recently turned 101.
Still an avid news consumer and writer, Rohmer said that remarks by president-elect Donald Trump implying that Canada could be absorbed by the United States should not be laughed off.
“This man has to be taken seriously,” he said. “He is a man with great imagination who has ideas about what he can do and what he cannot do, and as far as Canada is concerned.”
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China aims to heal wounds of industrial ‘involution’ as officials vow to stem bloodletting
By Ji Siqi
Amid increased complaints from private sectors over dwindling profit margins and overflowing inventories, China’s top leaders have pledged stronger actions to combat industrial overcapacity and vicious competition in the year to come.
Beijing will “comprehensively rectify ‘neijuan-style’ competition”, through regulating the behaviour of local governments and enterprises, the country’s leaders vowed at the two-day central economic work conference that wrapped up on Thursday.
The term neijuan, or “involution”, has become tantamount in China to an unsustainable state of intense internal competition that leads to diminishing returns and stagnation, which could further curtail long-term investment and technological innovation.
The green energy sector, which has been a bright spot in the country’s economy over the past few years and is concentrated among private firms, has borne the brunt. In the solar supply chain, for example, product prices and industrial-output value have kept falling this year, along with the rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity, application scenarios and export volumes.
China’s local governments have been the main force behind the industrial policies that have spurred the rapid growth of China’s new-energy sector, offering comprehensive support such as cheap land and low-priced-power purchase agreements, which encourage the construction of more factories to the degree that they become excessive.
The average prices of solar products have fallen by 60 to 80 per cent compared with their high point in 2023, and one-third of the listed solar manufacturers have suffered net profit losses this year, with leading companies bleeding the most, according to Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association.
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By Ji Siqi
Amid increased complaints from private sectors over dwindling profit margins and overflowing inventories, China’s top leaders have pledged stronger actions to combat industrial overcapacity and vicious competition in the year to come.
Beijing will “comprehensively rectify ‘neijuan-style’ competition”, through regulating the behaviour of local governments and enterprises, the country’s leaders vowed at the two-day central economic work conference that wrapped up on Thursday.
The term neijuan, or “involution”, has become tantamount in China to an unsustainable state of intense internal competition that leads to diminishing returns and stagnation, which could further curtail long-term investment and technological innovation.
The green energy sector, which has been a bright spot in the country’s economy over the past few years and is concentrated among private firms, has borne the brunt. In the solar supply chain, for example, product prices and industrial-output value have kept falling this year, along with the rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity, application scenarios and export volumes.
China’s local governments have been the main force behind the industrial policies that have spurred the rapid growth of China’s new-energy sector, offering comprehensive support such as cheap land and low-priced-power purchase agreements, which encourage the construction of more factories to the degree that they become excessive.
The average prices of solar products have fallen by 60 to 80 per cent compared with their high point in 2023, and one-third of the listed solar manufacturers have suffered net profit losses this year, with leading companies bleeding the most, according to Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association.
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Hong Kong should look before it leaps into low-altitude economy
By Dennis Lee
When living in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci envisioned the utopian city as one with two levels. The upper level would be where noble people lived, breathed and relaxed; the lower level – hidden below the streets – would have a knitted network of canals and routes for delivery, services, utilities and logistics.
While conventional by today’s urban planning standards, his idea was visionary in the Milan of his time. The lack of sanitary awareness helped perpetuate the bubonic plague which killed more than one-third of its citizens.
However, even the genius of Da Vinci is unlikely to have imagined that a city could have a third level, one that could transform services and enhance the economy in the contemporary world. That is, of course, if the low-altitude economy lives up to the hype and creates an unprecedented market.
According to figures from the Civil Aviation Administration, China’s low-altitude economy was estimated at more than 500 billion yuan (US$69 billion) at the end of 2023 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030. Given the many potential drivers of this new sector – including government grants and subsidies, the cost of enhancing 5G and 6G network infrastructure and more – it is difficult to nail down an accurate estimate of a low-altitude economy’s financial impact.
Putting aside its effect on the economy, what would be the big deal if we had drones flying over our heads to deliver bubble tea? More specifically, how would a low-altitude economy transform urban development, logistics and transport?
In terms of services and delivery, it might not change much in our environment or how we live and go about our day-to-day business. Most Hongkongers live in flats, and drones are unlikely to deliver the merchandise directly to our homes but instead take it to designated lockers.
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By Dennis Lee
When living in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci envisioned the utopian city as one with two levels. The upper level would be where noble people lived, breathed and relaxed; the lower level – hidden below the streets – would have a knitted network of canals and routes for delivery, services, utilities and logistics.
While conventional by today’s urban planning standards, his idea was visionary in the Milan of his time. The lack of sanitary awareness helped perpetuate the bubonic plague which killed more than one-third of its citizens.
However, even the genius of Da Vinci is unlikely to have imagined that a city could have a third level, one that could transform services and enhance the economy in the contemporary world. That is, of course, if the low-altitude economy lives up to the hype and creates an unprecedented market.
According to figures from the Civil Aviation Administration, China’s low-altitude economy was estimated at more than 500 billion yuan (US$69 billion) at the end of 2023 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030. Given the many potential drivers of this new sector – including government grants and subsidies, the cost of enhancing 5G and 6G network infrastructure and more – it is difficult to nail down an accurate estimate of a low-altitude economy’s financial impact.
Putting aside its effect on the economy, what would be the big deal if we had drones flying over our heads to deliver bubble tea? More specifically, how would a low-altitude economy transform urban development, logistics and transport?
In terms of services and delivery, it might not change much in our environment or how we live and go about our day-to-day business. Most Hongkongers live in flats, and drones are unlikely to deliver the merchandise directly to our homes but instead take it to designated lockers.
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Single in Hong Kong? Let your friends make your case to roomful of strangers
By Lo Hoi-ying
In an upper-floor restaurant in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, a group of more than 30 people bursts into laughter and applause over dinner as they watch a slide show.
Among those presenting is technology entrepreneur Olivia Chan Yuen-ue, who is proudly pitching to a crowd of strangers why they should date her friend Nicolas Tam.
“He is tall and has a good relationship with his family … He holds the highest standard among men!” she says as her friend’s photo appears on a slide.
All eyes turn to 26-year-old wildlife consultant Tam, who is sitting in the audience, cheering as they approve of the playful pitch.
Tam laughs off the praise, and says: “Being described by a friend is more attractive than your usual self-introductions.”
Chan, who is also a comedian, is the organiser of Hong Kong’s Pitch-A-Friend event, where participants get five minutes to make a case on a friend’s behalf.
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By Lo Hoi-ying
In an upper-floor restaurant in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay district, a group of more than 30 people bursts into laughter and applause over dinner as they watch a slide show.
Among those presenting is technology entrepreneur Olivia Chan Yuen-ue, who is proudly pitching to a crowd of strangers why they should date her friend Nicolas Tam.
“He is tall and has a good relationship with his family … He holds the highest standard among men!” she says as her friend’s photo appears on a slide.
All eyes turn to 26-year-old wildlife consultant Tam, who is sitting in the audience, cheering as they approve of the playful pitch.
Tam laughs off the praise, and says: “Being described by a friend is more attractive than your usual self-introductions.”
Chan, who is also a comedian, is the organiser of Hong Kong’s Pitch-A-Friend event, where participants get five minutes to make a case on a friend’s behalf.
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South Korean businesses based in China eye Trump tariffs nervously
By Luna Sun
As US president-elect Donald Trump threatens to increase tariffs on imports from China, small foreign businesses operating factories in the country are deeply concerned about the potential fallout.
Many see no easy way out because relocating operations or restructuring supply chains remain costly and complex challenges.
Among them is a medium-sized South Korean make-up brush manufacturer that has operated a factory in northern China since 1997 and exports its products around the world. It worries that Trump’s threatened tariffs might see most buyers shift their sourcing out of China or ask it to share the tariff costs or reduce product prices accordingly.
Offshoring is not a viable option either, said director Miyun Byun, who asked that the name of the company not be disclosed due to concerns about the sensitivity of the situation.
“If we were to relocate to another country, we would likely struggle to establish stable operations before the end of President Trump’s term,” she said.
Like many other labour-intensive industries, the global make-up brush supply chain has become highly concentrated in China over a number of decades, particularly in Cangzhou, a city in Hebei province that has become a major producer of make-up brushes.
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By Luna Sun
As US president-elect Donald Trump threatens to increase tariffs on imports from China, small foreign businesses operating factories in the country are deeply concerned about the potential fallout.
Many see no easy way out because relocating operations or restructuring supply chains remain costly and complex challenges.
Among them is a medium-sized South Korean make-up brush manufacturer that has operated a factory in northern China since 1997 and exports its products around the world. It worries that Trump’s threatened tariffs might see most buyers shift their sourcing out of China or ask it to share the tariff costs or reduce product prices accordingly.
Offshoring is not a viable option either, said director Miyun Byun, who asked that the name of the company not be disclosed due to concerns about the sensitivity of the situation.
“If we were to relocate to another country, we would likely struggle to establish stable operations before the end of President Trump’s term,” she said.
Like many other labour-intensive industries, the global make-up brush supply chain has become highly concentrated in China over a number of decades, particularly in Cangzhou, a city in Hebei province that has become a major producer of make-up brushes.
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Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent execs among Big Tech members on new China AI standards committee
By Coco Feng
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday announced the establishment of an “artificial intelligence (AI) standardisation technology committee” that includes executives from tech giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies.
The committee will be responsible for “making and revising” standards for different AI vertical markets, including assessment and testing, data sets, large language models (LLMs), and application development management, according to a statement dated November 22 and published on Friday.
The 41-member committee includes Baidu AI technology ecosystem general manager Ma Yanjun, Alibaba’s Judy Zhu Hongru, vice-president of the cloud unit’s standardisation operations, Tencent vice-president Jiang Jie who oversees its AI Lab, and Huawei’s director of the standardisation department You Fang.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The committee has also recruited experts from AI giant SenseTime, voice recognition leader iFlyTek, Alibaba fintech affiliate Ant Group, chip designer Moore Threads and carmaker Changan Automobile.
Professionals and intellectuals from state-owned telecommunications carriers China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile, as well as from Peking University and Tsinghua University, also make up the committee.
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By Coco Feng
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday announced the establishment of an “artificial intelligence (AI) standardisation technology committee” that includes executives from tech giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies.
The committee will be responsible for “making and revising” standards for different AI vertical markets, including assessment and testing, data sets, large language models (LLMs), and application development management, according to a statement dated November 22 and published on Friday.
The 41-member committee includes Baidu AI technology ecosystem general manager Ma Yanjun, Alibaba’s Judy Zhu Hongru, vice-president of the cloud unit’s standardisation operations, Tencent vice-president Jiang Jie who oversees its AI Lab, and Huawei’s director of the standardisation department You Fang.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The committee has also recruited experts from AI giant SenseTime, voice recognition leader iFlyTek, Alibaba fintech affiliate Ant Group, chip designer Moore Threads and carmaker Changan Automobile.
Professionals and intellectuals from state-owned telecommunications carriers China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile, as well as from Peking University and Tsinghua University, also make up the committee.
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UK’s Prince Andrew says he’s ‘ceased all contact’ with alleged Chinese spy
By dpa
Britain’s Prince Andrew says he had “ceased all contact” with a businessman accused of being a Chinese spy when concerns were first raised about him.
The statement comes the same day a former UK minister on Friday called it “extremely embarrassing” that a suspected Chinese agent had become a confidante of the disgraced royal.
Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement from his office said on Friday.
The businessman – known only as H6 – has lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
He brought a case to the UK’s Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.
H6 was described as a “close confidante” of Andrew, also known as the Duke of York.
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By dpa
Britain’s Prince Andrew says he had “ceased all contact” with a businessman accused of being a Chinese spy when concerns were first raised about him.
The statement comes the same day a former UK minister on Friday called it “extremely embarrassing” that a suspected Chinese agent had become a confidante of the disgraced royal.
Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement from his office said on Friday.
The businessman – known only as H6 – has lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
He brought a case to the UK’s Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.
H6 was described as a “close confidante” of Andrew, also known as the Duke of York.
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Why mainland China’s ‘second navy’ is becoming increasingly active around Taiwan
By Hayley Wong
In the final instalment of a three-part series examining mainland China’s increasing military presence around Taiwan, Hayley Wong explores the role the coastguard is playing in ramping up the pressure on Taipei and what it might do in the event of an all-out assault.
Most of the international attention China’s coastguard has attracted in recent months has focused on its role in the South China Sea, but the force also plays a major role in pressurising Taiwan.
The coastguard is central to Beijing’s grey-zone tactics – which are designed to intensify the pressure on the island while falling short of full-blown warfare – and has been carrying out regular patrols around Taiwan in the hope this is less likely to trigger a strong response than the use of the navy would.
This increased presence follows an incident in February when two mainland fishermen died after their boat capsized during a chase by Taiwan’s coastguard near the mainland coast.
Beijing has said these patrols are intended to “maintain operational order in sea areas and safeguard fishermen’s lives and property”.
At the same time, coastguards have played a greater role in People’s Liberation Army activities in the Taiwan Strait and many analysts say they are likely to play a major role in any military operations targeting the island.
The China Coast Guard’s [CCG] combat readiness is at “a low to medium level”, according to Lyle Goldstein, director of the China Initiative at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
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By Hayley Wong
In the final instalment of a three-part series examining mainland China’s increasing military presence around Taiwan, Hayley Wong explores the role the coastguard is playing in ramping up the pressure on Taipei and what it might do in the event of an all-out assault.
Most of the international attention China’s coastguard has attracted in recent months has focused on its role in the South China Sea, but the force also plays a major role in pressurising Taiwan.
The coastguard is central to Beijing’s grey-zone tactics – which are designed to intensify the pressure on the island while falling short of full-blown warfare – and has been carrying out regular patrols around Taiwan in the hope this is less likely to trigger a strong response than the use of the navy would.
This increased presence follows an incident in February when two mainland fishermen died after their boat capsized during a chase by Taiwan’s coastguard near the mainland coast.
Beijing has said these patrols are intended to “maintain operational order in sea areas and safeguard fishermen’s lives and property”.
At the same time, coastguards have played a greater role in People’s Liberation Army activities in the Taiwan Strait and many analysts say they are likely to play a major role in any military operations targeting the island.
The China Coast Guard’s [CCG] combat readiness is at “a low to medium level”, according to Lyle Goldstein, director of the China Initiative at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
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How my Malaysian Chinese education is paying off
By Chee Yik-wai
Michelle Yeoh understood enough Cantonese when it mattered. Even though the name “Sing Lung” didn’t immediately ring a bell, she still accepted her first on-screen gig in 1980s Hong Kong – a commercial with, as it turned out, Jackie Chan – which would lead ultimately to her international film career.
Michael Wong was a Chinese-educated choirboy who went on to crack the Mandopop market in 1990s Taiwan and win acclaim as a balladeer in the wider Chinese-speaking world.
Like Yeoh and Wong before me, I grew up in Ipoh, a Chinese-dominated city in Malaysia. For my generation, a wide exposure to Chinese culture and a decades-long emphasis on Chinese-medium education are paying off in a bigger way than I could have imagined, with the transformation of mainland China into an economic and technological power.
Around Ipoh, ethnic Chinese children have often grown up between languages. At home, my parents spoke Cantonese, and we lapped up TVB dramas and Cantopop songs from Hong Kong. But when I went to school, I learned to read and write simplified Chinese – not the traditional script that is used in Hong Kong – and all subjects at the primary-school level were taught in Mandarin. At the public secondary school I attended, the medium of instruction switched to Malay, the national language, but Chinese and English were compulsory subjects.
That is how I came to have a perfect command of Mandarin, and to consider it more of a mother tongue than Cantonese. It’s also natural that many of my schoolmates would be tuned in to the latest Mandopop hits from Taiwan, by singers like Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai. At the time, Taiwanese idol dramas and variety shows were common entertainment options, in the absence of strong alternatives from mainland China.
Many Malaysian Chinese had been drawn to Taiwan for the longest time, whether as a tourist, student or expat destination, due to a unique combination of “pull” and “push” factors. On the one hand, Taiwan offers scholarships to overseas Chinese students; on the other hand, Malaysia continues to give the Malay majority preferential access to resources from higher education to housing under the bumiputra or “sons of the soil” policy, in the name of tackling inequality.
I was often told by the older generation that this is the price our community had to pay for being allowed to develop the most comprehensive education track in Chinese outside China – more than 1,200 Chinese vernacular primary schools, and around 150 government or independent Chinese high schools – instead of assimilating.
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By Chee Yik-wai
Michelle Yeoh understood enough Cantonese when it mattered. Even though the name “Sing Lung” didn’t immediately ring a bell, she still accepted her first on-screen gig in 1980s Hong Kong – a commercial with, as it turned out, Jackie Chan – which would lead ultimately to her international film career.
Michael Wong was a Chinese-educated choirboy who went on to crack the Mandopop market in 1990s Taiwan and win acclaim as a balladeer in the wider Chinese-speaking world.
Like Yeoh and Wong before me, I grew up in Ipoh, a Chinese-dominated city in Malaysia. For my generation, a wide exposure to Chinese culture and a decades-long emphasis on Chinese-medium education are paying off in a bigger way than I could have imagined, with the transformation of mainland China into an economic and technological power.
Around Ipoh, ethnic Chinese children have often grown up between languages. At home, my parents spoke Cantonese, and we lapped up TVB dramas and Cantopop songs from Hong Kong. But when I went to school, I learned to read and write simplified Chinese – not the traditional script that is used in Hong Kong – and all subjects at the primary-school level were taught in Mandarin. At the public secondary school I attended, the medium of instruction switched to Malay, the national language, but Chinese and English were compulsory subjects.
That is how I came to have a perfect command of Mandarin, and to consider it more of a mother tongue than Cantonese. It’s also natural that many of my schoolmates would be tuned in to the latest Mandopop hits from Taiwan, by singers like Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai. At the time, Taiwanese idol dramas and variety shows were common entertainment options, in the absence of strong alternatives from mainland China.
Many Malaysian Chinese had been drawn to Taiwan for the longest time, whether as a tourist, student or expat destination, due to a unique combination of “pull” and “push” factors. On the one hand, Taiwan offers scholarships to overseas Chinese students; on the other hand, Malaysia continues to give the Malay majority preferential access to resources from higher education to housing under the bumiputra or “sons of the soil” policy, in the name of tackling inequality.
I was often told by the older generation that this is the price our community had to pay for being allowed to develop the most comprehensive education track in Chinese outside China – more than 1,200 Chinese vernacular primary schools, and around 150 government or independent Chinese high schools – instead of assimilating.
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Hong Kong’s debt-hit Han Academy hunts for investors to keep school running
By Fan Chen
The founding supervisor of a heavily indebted independent school in Hong Kong has said she is meeting different investors and will try her best to keep it running after it failed to refund at least HK$6.2 million (US$797,380) worth of debentures to parents.
Xu Li, the founding supervisor of Han Academy in Aberdeen, said on Friday that she had held discussions with more than one investor for various sources of funding, including borrowing, donations and crowdfunding.
“We have possibilities in various ways, but pure borrowing might be more difficult,” she told the Post, adding that lenders might not have confidence in the school’s founding body, a charity with no shares or fixed assets.
Xu declined to reveal more details about the discussions with investors, adding that she looked forward to the results.
She said the school, founded in 2017 by the NGO Happy Life Education Foundation, used to receive HK$10 million in donations annually.
Lawmaker Edward Leung Hei, who has been helping some complainants, earlier said the school had told parents in a recent briefing that it was HK$100 million in debt.
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By Fan Chen
The founding supervisor of a heavily indebted independent school in Hong Kong has said she is meeting different investors and will try her best to keep it running after it failed to refund at least HK$6.2 million (US$797,380) worth of debentures to parents.
Xu Li, the founding supervisor of Han Academy in Aberdeen, said on Friday that she had held discussions with more than one investor for various sources of funding, including borrowing, donations and crowdfunding.
“We have possibilities in various ways, but pure borrowing might be more difficult,” she told the Post, adding that lenders might not have confidence in the school’s founding body, a charity with no shares or fixed assets.
Xu declined to reveal more details about the discussions with investors, adding that she looked forward to the results.
She said the school, founded in 2017 by the NGO Happy Life Education Foundation, used to receive HK$10 million in donations annually.
Lawmaker Edward Leung Hei, who has been helping some complainants, earlier said the school had told parents in a recent briefing that it was HK$100 million in debt.
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HK$2 million fine, 2 years’ jail proposed for illegal structures in Hong Kong
By Edith Lin
Hong Kong landlords may face a fine of up to HK$2 million (US$257,220) and two years behind bars if they are convicted of illegally building a basement or other significant structures, while ignorance will no longer be a defence under a plan to toughen the applicable laws.
In the proposed amendment to the Buildings Ordinance laid out on Friday, the Development Bureau also introduced a new offence that would require owners be held liable for having what is called a “severe” unauthorised structure on their property, regardless of whether they built it.
Those who assist residents in taking ownership of properties with illegal structures, such as property agents and lawyers, would also be held accountable.
At present, authorities can only prosecute landlords who ignore removal orders for illegal structures.
The bureau said the proposed maximum penalty for the new offence would be at least HK$1 million for owners convicted in the District Court or High Court, while sentences handed down by magistrates would be capped at a HK$300,000 fine and two years in jail.
The proposed changes to the law came after record-breaking rainfall in September last year exposed the extent of illegal structures at luxury homes in Redhill Peninsula. Dozens of homes were found to have illegally constructed basements, swimming pools or even additional floors.
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By Edith Lin
Hong Kong landlords may face a fine of up to HK$2 million (US$257,220) and two years behind bars if they are convicted of illegally building a basement or other significant structures, while ignorance will no longer be a defence under a plan to toughen the applicable laws.
In the proposed amendment to the Buildings Ordinance laid out on Friday, the Development Bureau also introduced a new offence that would require owners be held liable for having what is called a “severe” unauthorised structure on their property, regardless of whether they built it.
Those who assist residents in taking ownership of properties with illegal structures, such as property agents and lawyers, would also be held accountable.
At present, authorities can only prosecute landlords who ignore removal orders for illegal structures.
The bureau said the proposed maximum penalty for the new offence would be at least HK$1 million for owners convicted in the District Court or High Court, while sentences handed down by magistrates would be capped at a HK$300,000 fine and two years in jail.
The proposed changes to the law came after record-breaking rainfall in September last year exposed the extent of illegal structures at luxury homes in Redhill Peninsula. Dozens of homes were found to have illegally constructed basements, swimming pools or even additional floors.
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