đ Free Tide: Carrie Lam prioritizes mainland border reopening
Chief Executive lobbies for mainland government to reopen border, GBA accountants sign cooperative agreement, Tiananmen Square Vigil group members arrested, and more...
Good morning
Today weâve got some mainland border/Greater Bay Area news in store for you, and then a couple more NSL headlines (as usual). Enjoy!
~ Sze Yu
Carrie Lam pushes for mainland border reopening
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has told lawmakers that she has been actively lobbying the central government to reopen the border(paywalled). According to SCMP, the Chief Executive asked Beijing to establish further communication between Hong Kong and mainland medical experts.
Hong Kongâs frequent imported cases is one of the obstacles that hinders a full reopening. In addition, Hong Kongâs health code is not linked to the mainlandâs because of privacy concerns, meaning authorities cannot directly track Hong Kongerâs movements (unlike in mainland China). Lam, however, cites Hong Kongâs consistent record of little to no local cases in recent weeks and months.
When asked by lawmakers if Hong Kong had considered adopting a strategy of coexisting with Covid-19, Lam replied âHong Kong cannot and should not adopt an epidemic prevention strategy of âcoexisting with the virusâ ⊠otherwise there is no hope of [quarantine-free] cross-border travel with the mainland.â
COVID news


Coronavirus in Hong Kong
New cases:Â 2 (imported)
Total cases:Â 12,132 cases so far (89 active cases, 212Â total deaths, 11,831 total recovered)
Deep-throat saliva sample tests set to be phased out
Compulsory deep throat saliva tests will soon be replaced by nasal and throat swabs in order to âenhance the effectivenessâ of Hong Kongâs COVID testing.
Greater Bay Area accountants sign cooperative agreement
Accounting industry representatives from Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong signed an agreement pledging closer cooperation this Wednesday(paywalled). Hong Kong representatives say that the agreement would grant local firms greater access to the GBAâs massive growing market.
The central government also recently announced plans to expand the Qianhai special economic zone in Shenzhen to further extend business opportunities for Hong Kongâs professional services sector.


4 members of Tiananmen Massacre vigil group arrested
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said its Vice-chair Chow Hang-tung and three committee members were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday. A day before, the group had publicly refused national security policeâs demand for information. In response, Secretary for Security Chris Tang vowed âswift and efficient actionâ against the group.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam denied that the arrests signified a crackdown on civil society.
Other updates
Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang has blamed prison inmates for âscheming with othersâ and endangering national security. Last Thursday, anti-riot prison officers suppressed a protest by female detainees, reportedly including pro-democracy activist Tiffany Yuen. Tang claimed that the discovery of detaineeâs possession of chocolates and hair clips exceeding the prison quota signified âprivilege within prison wallsâ and was a threat to national security.
Finance Secretary Paul Chan apologised for the governmentâs âinconsiderateâ roll out of the consumption voucher scheme. The governmentâs arrangements for physical registration forced elderly citizens to queue up in the heat for hours to re-submit their manual applications last week.
Chan Chak-Ming, the new head of the Hong Kong Law Society, has promised to âlisten to different viewsâ(paywalled). After recent warnings from the government to avoid âpoliticisingâ the Law Society, the most recent elections left only six liberal members on the societyâs 20-member council.
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