kakase/hk_gov_press_release huggingface dataset:
Transcript of remarks by CS at media session in Shenzhen during four-day visit to GBA of HKSAR Government and LegCo delegation led by CE (21.4.2023)
21.4.2023

The delegation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Legislative Council led by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, arrived in Shenzhen today (April 21). Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, at a media session in Shenzhen this evening: Reporter: Mr Chan, can you just briefly talk about what have been discussed at the meeting? What are some of the highlights? Chief Secretary for Administration: I think tonight we had a very good discussion with the Party Secretary (Secretary of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee), Mr Meng Fanli, and the Mayor (Mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal Government), Mr Qin Weizhong. They explained to us the development of Shenzhen in different areas, including the economic development and also the IT development. I think this is a very good opportunity for us to understand more about the achievements made by Shenzhen recently, and this is a very good opportunity for us to discuss and to have it (the discussion) on a formal basis with the Shenzhen officials. I think this is also a very good opportunity for us to have a very casual talk with our Legislative (Council) Members. I think this is a very good occasion. (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) Ends/Friday, April 21, 2023 Issued at HKT 22:15 NNNN
DCS visits Shatin Government Primary School (13.4.2023)
13.4.2023

The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, visited Shatin Government Primary School today (April 13) to learn about the implementation of national security education at the school and interacted with students participating in the "National Security in Schools" Workshops. The Acting Secretary for Education, Mr Sze Chun-fai, also joined the visit. Upon arrival, Mr Cheuk and Mr Sze were briefed by school representatives on the implementation of national security education on campus. They then visited workshops on 3D printing, shuttlecock kicking and traditional Chinese painting. Mr Cheuk encouraged students to participate in the activities to enrich their knowledge of the country's development in different aspects and deepen their understanding of the country's achievements in areas including innovation and technology, sports, and arts and culture, as a means to develop a correct concept about the country, build up a sense of national identity and strengthen their awareness of national security and literacy. Before concluding the workshops, Mr Cheuk and Mr Sze joined the students and the school principal to complete a mural themed "National Security: Foundation of Stability and Prosperity", delivering the message of safeguarding national security together. Mr Cheuk said, "National security is inextricably linked to a society's stability. The enactment of the National Security Law (NSL) has brought Hong Kong forward to a new stage of advancing from stability to prosperity following the transition from chaos to order. April 15 this year marks the third National Security Education Day since the enactment of the NSL. The Government will continue to step up publicity and public education to enhance the public's sense of national security and law-abiding awareness, so as to fortify and safeguard the line of defence for national security." Ends/Thursday, April 13, 2023 Issued at HKT 17:25 NNNN
First Mainland study tour of senior secondary subject of Citizenship and Social Development begins (3.4.2023)
3.4.2023

The delegation of the first Mainland study tour for students of the senior secondary subject of Citizenship and Social Development (CS) set off this morning (April 3) by the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) for a two-day trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, saw off the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, who led the delegation, as well as the participating students and teachers at the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station of the XRL. Mr Chan said that he was pleased to witness the setting-off of the first CS Mainland study tour since the full resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland. With much anticipation, both students and teachers were well prepared for the tour. He encouraged the students to learn about the latest situation and development of the country during the tour in order to strengthen their sense of national identity and gain insights into how to seize the vast opportunities brought about by the country's development and become a contributor and builder for Hong Kong and the country. He wished the delegation a safe and successful study journey. Around 250 students and teachers from NT Heung Yee Kuk Yuen Long District Secondary School and Hon Wah College joined the study tour. The delegation first visited Guangzhou ZhiXin High School to attend the kick-off ceremony of the CS Mainland study tour. Addressing the ceremony, Dr Choi thanked leaders of the Ministry of Education, the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Department of Education of Guangdong Province and municipal education bureaux for their continual support and care for Hong Kong students as well as their full support for the arrangement of the CS Mainland study tours. She said that study tours covering over 20 themes would set off one after another. It is expected that over 40 000 students will have participated in the tours by the end of August. She hoped that students would cherish the valuable study opportunities. She also reminded students that, apart from learning earnestly, they should demonstrate the qualities of Hong Kong's senior secondary students at all times as they are Hong Kong's image ambassadors. After the kick-off ceremony, the delegation took part in class activities at ZhiXin High School. They also lunched and toured the campus together with students of the School. Students from the two Hong Kong schools enthusiastically participated in the learning activities and interacted with local students. The delegation will depart for other visiting spots in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to understand the local history, culture and technological development. They will return to Hong Kong tomorrow evening (April 4). Ends/Monday, April 3, 2023 Issued at HKT 14:13 NNNN
Reappointment to Fight Crime Committee announced (31.3.2023)
31.3.2023

The Government announced today (March 31) the reappointment of Ms Cecilia Ho Chung-chee as a member of the Fight Crime Committee. Her term of appointment is from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2025. The Chief Secretary for Administration and Chairman of the Committee, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, expressed gratitude to Ms Ho for her acceptance of the reappointment and the valuable advice she offered to the Fight Crime Committee during her tenure in the past two years. The Fight Crime Committee is responsible for drawing up plans to reduce crime, co-ordinating efforts in fighting crime and monitoring the results, and determining ways in which the public can be encouraged to contribute to the fight against crime. Ends/Friday, March 31, 2023 Issued at HKT 12:00 NNNN
DCS visits Shenzhen to study landscape greening and cityscape enhancement measures (23.3.2023)
23.3.2023

The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, together with the Director of Highways, Mr Jimmy Chan, and the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Vincent Liu, visited Shenzhen today (March 23). They studied landscape greening and cityscape enhancement measures in Shenzhen, which will provide useful reference for the District Matters Co-ordinating Task Force in carrying out cityscape improvement works in Hong Kong. Accompanied by the Director-General of the Urban Administration and Law Enforcement Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, Mr Zhang Guohong, and Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government Mr He Xinhong, Mr Cheuk studied the greening and enhancement initiatives along the carriageways of Huanggang Road, Shennan Road, Jintian Road and Hongli Road area, and visited the Lianhuashan Park to view the greenery landscape of Futian Central District and user-friendly leisure facilities there to acquire a deeper understanding of the overall layout of the greenery landscape in Shenzhen. This was followed by a meeting with Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal Government Mr Chen Qing. Both sides discussed ways to strengthen collaboration between the two places in the areas of cityscape enhancement and management. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region delegation then attended a lunch hosted by the Vice Mayor afterwards. In the afternoon, Mr Cheuk and other officials visited the Shenzhen Intelligent Operation Center for Urban Management to understand the development of smart urban management in Shenzhen. Mr Cheuk and the Urban Administration and Law Enforcement Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality had an in-depth exchange on matters including cityscape constructing and landscape greening and enhancement. The delegation went on to visit Dasha River Ecological Corridor to learn how the Shenzhen Municipal Government, by way of landscape beatification and reshaping, developed a 13 kilometre river bank for residents to go for strolling, jogging, rowing and tea. Concluding his visit, Mr Cheuk said, "Shenzhen has rich experience in cityscape enhancement and there are many areas that we can learn from and make reference to. The information and inspiration we gained from this visit will be of immense help to the District Matters Co-ordination Task Force in carrying out cityscape improvement." Mr Cheuk and other officials returned to Hong Kong in the evening. Ends/Thursday, March 23, 2023 Issued at HKT 20:09 NNNN
DCS to visit Shenzhen (22.3.2023)
22.3.2023

The Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Cheuk Wing-hing, together with the Director of Highways, Mr Jimmy Chan, and the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Vincent Liu, will visit Shenzhen tomorrow (March 23) to study landscape greening and cityscape enhancement in Shenzhen, and meet with Shenzhen officials to exchange views on city management. Mr Cheuk and other officials will return to Hong Kong on the same evening. Ends/Wednesday, March 22, 2023 Issued at HKT 18:30 NNNN
Transcript of remarks by CS, SCST and USEE after Ante Chamber exchange session (22.3.2023)
22.3.2023

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, met the media with the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung, and the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong, after attending the Ante Chamber exchange session at the Legislative Council this morning (March 22). Following is the transcript of remarks: Reporter: Mr Chan, can you also recap in English about the progress? And then, also, Mr Yeung, about some mega events coming up, so how do you think this can help like in the road of the recovery in Hong Kong? Thank you. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism: On the mega events, as we all know, during these few months, we have already had a number of mega events happening in Hong Kong. That actually attracts a lot of tourists coming from overseas or coming from the Mainland to join these programmes and to participate in these activities. We believe that it will also create a lot of energy in our economy and help to boost our economy to the state that we could recover from the pandemic. And also these mega events could also boost the atmosphere of Hong Kong. As you can see, there are also many Hong Kong citizens or Hong Kong residents joining these programmes as well. So hosting more mega events will be one of the directions that we will be trying to do more to make sure that we will recover from the pandemic. Thank you. Chief Secretary for Administration: Regarding the national anthem matter, I would like to inform the public that we have been discussing continuously with Google. And according to Google's policy, anything which is wrong or illegal should be removed. But unfortunately, up to now, the mistake is still there, and Google is still unwilling to remove the mistake. And this is very undesirable, because this will give us an impression that it is Google that wants the mistake to continue. And of course, we will continue to discuss with them and we hope that eventually the mistake can be rectified. Regarding Hong Kong organisations, when they participate in international events outside Hong Kong, they should pay attention to the national anthem, which should be properly and correctly played or shown to the public. They should not make any mistake on the national anthem because this is important to all Chinese, and we (the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China) have already issued guidelines on how to minimise (the chance of mistakes) or to ensure that the mistake will not happen. I understand that the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association has recently submitted a report to us and we will do investigation immediately on it. And if there is anybody who has not followed the guidelines strictly, and thus caused the mistake, we will impose serious punishment on it. (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) Ends/Wednesday, March 22, 2023 Issued at HKT 12:55 NNNN
Commission on Children convenes 16th meeting (16.3.2023)
16.3.2023

​The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, today (March 16) chaired the 16th meeting of Commission on Children. It is also the first meeting of the third-term Commission. Mr Chan welcomed the new members. He said that he looked forward to close collaboration with all members of the Commission in taking forward various initiatives at full steam to jointly safeguard the well-being of children and also assist the sector in enhancing their service quality, thereby building a pro-child and inclusive community. At the meeting, members were briefed by the representatives of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) on the report of the Second Phase Review of the Committee on Review of Residential Child Care and Related Services, covering children's homes, boys'/girls' homes and boys'/girls' hostels, as well as non-institutional care (including foster care service, small group homes (SGHs) and SGHs for mildly mentally handicapped children). On service quality, the Report recommended to increase the manpower of different ranks, expand the scope of professional staff support services in residential care homes, strengthen staff training, and require superintendents to complete training courses on child protection. On service regulation, the Report recommended to enhance the internal audit mechanism of service operators, and set a surveillance period for non-compliant operators, etc. On service planning, the Report recommended to improve the referral mechanism and guidelines, establish the functions of "case managers", enhance post-discharge support, and flexibly deploy residential care places, etc. On foster care service, the Report recommended to introduce flexible recruitment and care arrangements, and strengthen the support and training for foster parents, etc. Members welcomed the various recommendations of the Report. They offered views on enhancing the service quality and monitoring, strengthening manpower deployment, introducing professional support, strengthening staff training and post-discharge support measures, as well as the priorities and implementation arrangements of the recommendations. Furthermore, members discussed the strategy and major directions on how to promote public education and public relations on the well-being of children. The Commission will launch a series of education and publicity activities related to child protection with the SWD, the Education Bureau, Hong Kong Police Force, etc. to achieve synergies. The Commission will also collaborate with various sectors to step up stakeholders and public engagement activities. Ends/Thursday, March 16, 2023 Issued at HKT 19:50 NNNN
Fifth-term Commission on Poverty convenes first meeting (6.3.2023)
6.3.2023

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, chaired the first meeting of the fifth-term Commission on Poverty (CoP) this afternoon (March 6). As the Chairperson of the CoP, Mr Chan welcomed members of the new term and said that the current-term Government steadfastly upholds the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation with resources directed to those most in need. He added that he looks forward to closely working with members to explore, identify and support target groups for targeted poverty alleviation. Members expressed support for the close cross-sectoral collaboration among the Government, the business sector and the community in progressively rolling out initiatives of targeted poverty alleviation, alongside the Strive and Rise Programme launched last year to support junior secondary school students from underprivileged families, particularly those living in subdivided units. They agreed to a two-pronged approach to addressing the specific needs of target groups in order to achieve the expected effects of alleviating poverty or helping them rise above poverty, viz. empowering those who are able to help themselves so that they could achieve self-reliance and improve their lives, and releasing the potential labour force of society on the one hand, and continuing to plug existing service gaps to support those who are unable to help themselves on the other. Members were pleased to learn about the good progress of the Strive and Rise Programme, which gives full play to the synergies of the Government, the business sector and the community, since its launch in end-October 2022. The Government will evaluate the effectiveness of the first phase of the Programme in due course with a view to incorporating enhancements into the second phase. Members were also pleased to note that the Government will establish an "alumni club" for mentees. Mentees who have completed the Programme can continue to keep in touch with their mentors and other mentee graduates through this social network-cum-resource centre, to strive for upward mobility, and to support newcomers to the Programme in the future, such that the Programme can go on systematically. Also, members took note of the relevant government officials' reports on the progress of the Community Care Fund and the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund. They exchanged views on how best resources should be deployed to take forward the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation. Ends/Monday, March 6, 2023 Issued at HKT 18:13 NNNN
CS meets Vice Mayor of Tianjin (21.2.2023)
21.2.2023

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, met the Vice Mayor of Tianjin, Mr Zhu Peng, today (February 21). They exchanged views on further strengthening co-operation between Hong Kong and Tianjin. Mr Chan welcomed Mr Zhu's visit to Hong Kong with his delegation and said that Hong Kong and Tianjin have all along enjoyed close co-operation. With the COVID-19 epidemic so far under control, normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland has fully resumed and society is returning to full normality. Mr Chan said that he keenly looks forward to the deepening of exchanges and co-operation between Hong Kong and Tianjin on different aspects, including trade and commerce, finance, culture and education, so as to enhance the complementarity and mutual benefits of both cities. Mr Chan introduced to Mr Zhu the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government's new initiatives to proactively draw talent from all over the world, including the Top Talent Pass Scheme that targets high-income people and graduates of the world's top 100 universities. He welcomed talent from Tianjin to come to Hong Kong for pursuing their development. He also mentioned the HKSAR Government's establishment of the Steering Group on Integration into National Development at the end of 2022 to press ahead with initiatives across bureaux with steerage provided from a strategic and macro perspective, as well as to enhance communication with Mainland authorities. Mr Chan said that Hong Kong, while further strengthening co-operation with Tianjin, will fully leverage its unique advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, and give full play to its dual role in "going global and attracting foreign investment". Mr Chan pointed out that Hong Kong and Tianjin are cities with both Chinese and Western cultures, as well as rich historical and cultural backgrounds. Both cities can further promote co-operation on such aspects as culture, arts and tourism to enhance people-to-people bonds. He added that the HKSAR Government released the Youth Development Blueprint at the end of 2022, which aims to nurture on all fronts a new generation of young people with an affection for the country and Hong Kong and equipped with a global perspective, an aspiring mindset and positive thinking. He said that he looks forward to holding more youth exchange activities between Hong Kong and Tianjin, with a view to promoting Hong Kong youth's awareness and understanding of the motherland, strengthening their exchanges with Mainland people, and enhancing their sense of national identity. Ends/Tuesday, February 21, 2023 Issued at HKT 15:44 NNNN
CS visits Guangzhou (20.2.2023)
20.2.2023

The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, attended the First Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area High-quality Development Conference of Talent Service jointly organised by the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in Guangzhou today (February 20). He also visited the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Base. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Conference, Mr Chan said that Hong Kong, as a highly open and international city, is able to fully leverage its unique advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world under the "one country, two systems" principle, serve as the gateway for talent in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), and attract quality talent from overseas to pursue development in the area. Besides nurturing local talent at full steam, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is proactively drawing talent from around the world under a bold and innovative spirit. The array of such proactive initiatives rolled out at the end of December last year has received overwhelming response. He stressed that Hong Kong, as an international talent hub, will fully leverage its advantages and, at the same time, fully collaborate with the other cities in the GBA in developing the area into a high-quality talent hub, thereby making greater contributions to the country's high-quality development. Mr Chan and the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, together with leaders of Guangdong and Macao governments, officiated at the virtual plague unveiling ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Talent Exhibition Hall and paid a visit to the hall. Furthermore, Mr Sun introduced how Guangdong and Hong Kong have joined hands to develop new strengths in competing for international talent at the summit of the Conference. Mr Chan visited the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Guangdong) Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Base before returning to Hong Kong. He was briefed on the one-stop services on innovation and entrepreneurship provided by the base to young people from Hong Kong and Macao, and exchanged views with representatives of a service organisation stationed in the base and some Hong Kong young entrepreneurs. He said that the HKSAR Government will continue to encourage and support Hong Kong youth to set their sights on the GBA and grasp the significant opportunities the area offers them in their personal and career development; and to collaborate with other cities of the GBA in supporting the youth at large to realise their full potential in the area. Ends/Monday, February 20, 2023 Issued at HKT 19:20 NNNN