🐅 Tsui long, Caspar
新年快樂
Happy Lunar New Year folks! I’m so excited to celebrate one of my favourite holidays with my Birmingham family. I’ll be making dumplings for the first time for new year dinner so we’ll see how that goes.
— 李寶萍
A reminder that you can get two free months of paid Tide so you can see that awful rice post you’ll want to send to all your rice pals right now.
If you’d like to see Chief Exec Carrie Lam’s annual Lunar New Year message, you can read it here.
On Today’s Tide
Government | Caspar Tsui resigns.
COVID-19 | Three hotels added to quarantine close contacts.
Events
BN(O) | BN(O) holders moving to the UK plan to stay there.
NSL | Seditious cases get sentences.
Appointments | Standing Committee on Company Law Reform
Caspar Tsui quits after birthday party
Home Affairs Secretary Caspar Tsui resigned after his attendance at NPC deputy Witman Hung’s birthday party, saying he “behaved in an appropriate manner”.
Results have been released from the government investigation into Witman Hung’s birthday banquet in early January that attracted under 200 people, including 15 government officials. Two of the officials were issued verbal warnings/sanctions, while Tsui tendered his resignation. The other 12 officials who were present will not face any disciplinary action.
It wasn’t the attending the birthday bash bit that was the main issue; it was that officials were found to have acted in violation of social distancing and official code at the event.
“I accept that it is understandable and acceptable for the officials to accept the invitation and to attend the event, as long as they fulfilled all the requirements and better still, did not stay too long and did not mingle too much with the guests and left at the early stage of the party before it became very crowded.”
— Chief Executive Carrie “leaving parties when they start” Lam
Are you sad to see Mr Tsui go? Do you think this resignation was a just result or would you have preferred another outcome?
Three new hotels for COVID contacts
The government has added three hotels to the list of those where close contacts of positive COVID cases can quarantine. These hotels are Dorsett Mongkok, Hong Kong and Grand City Hotel, and Dorsett Tsuen Wan.
New cases: 92
Current social distancing measures will be extended another two weeks from this Friday to 17 February.
Just another reminder that starting from 5 February quarantine and virus testing arrangements will be changed for arrivals from the Mainland, Macau, and Taiwan. Arrivals will have quarantine periods in hotels shortened from 21 to 14 days with the seven days following in self-monitoring at home.
One positive COVID-19 case was found after Sunday night’s lockdown.
COVID testing required for those who were present at 43 specified premises during a certain period. See Annex for details.
Events
#GTopia: Game Kitchen - Hong Kong Masters of Kung Fu
The Goethe-Institut along with Current Plans, an Art Space in Sham Shui Po, is hosting a year-long series of indie video game events celebrating local tech and creative talent.
Their grand opening was a few days ago, but if you missed it, their first showcase ‘Games for and by Working Heros in Hong Kong’ starts on Thursday 3rd Feb featuring works by mobile game developer Wong Yue Fai.
When: from 3rd Feb
Where: Current Plans. 3/F, Tak On House, 13 Wong Chuk Street, Sham Shui Po
Find out more about the whole Game Kitchen project here.
The Future of Money and Power: e-RMB and CIPS
Join this lunch to learn more about China’s electronic currency and its “answer to the American-dominated SWIFT system: CIPS”. The talk emphasises the importance of China’s monetary system “as a global currency to rival the Euro and maybe, someday, the USD.” The speaker will be one of our own: Andrew Work, founder of Harbour Times and Co-founder and Director of the Lion Rock Institute.
When: 18 February 2022, 12:30 – 2 PM
Where: The Foreign Correspondents' Club - Verandah
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