[Voice of Hope December 8, 2023](Comprehensive report by our reporter Zheng Xin)

Moody’s negative comments caused the Hong Kong government to jump into action. She revealed that Li Ka-shing had issued a warning three years ago.

Moody’s, an international rating agency, downgraded Hong Kong’s credit rating outlook to “negative” and was criticized as “unreasonable” and “smeared” by Hong Kong government officials. However, Zhou Kaixuan, the “confidante” of CK Hutchison Group founder Li Ka-shing, revealed that Li Ka-shing had warned her as early as 2021 that the situation was “about to come” and predicted that the economy would “fall off a cliff”.

During a radio program on Thursday (December 7), Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-kee criticized Moody’s rationale for downgrading Hong Kong due to problems in China’s economy. He also said that the global economy is “rising in the east and falling in the west”. , international rating agencies headed by the United States have been looking for opportunities to discredit Hong Kong and China.

When Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po was interviewed by foreign media, he also said that Hong Kong’s economy has bottomed out and is recovering strongly. He was also optimistic about China’s economic prospects and Moody’s rating for Hong Kong was “unfair.”

Although Hong Kong government officials are dissatisfied with the decline in Hong Kong’s credit rating, Li Ka-shing, the founder of CK Hutchison Group, seems to have had an insight into the current situation of Hong Kong’s economy.

After attending the FII PRIORITY Asia Summit on Thursday, 62-year-old Zhou Kaixuan, co-founder of Victoria Harbor Investment, said that Li Ka-shing warned her in January 2021 that the situation at that time was “a storm is coming” and reminded her that the companies in the investment portfolio must It is important to have enough funds to spare before the end of the year, because it is expected that the economy will plummet after that.

Zhou Kaixuan continued that Li Ka-shing’s views proved the importance of “counterfactual thinking”, otherwise she would now be “running around” looking for investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.

Zhou Kaixuan also said that local governments should consider “institutionalizing admonishment officials” to help decision-makers see things from different perspectives and avoid paying a heavy price under the attack of normalization bias and bad policies.

As for when Hong Kong’s economy will “become brighter again”, she said Li Ka-shing did not mention it, but only reminded that investment should be cautious at present. She also said that foreign investors still have reservations about Hong Kong and “have to take care of themselves” at the moment.

Commentator Feng Xiqian said in a Facebook post that Zhou Kaixuan suggested that the government “institutionalize remonstrance officers”. Although the intention is beautiful, it may be playing tricks on others. Because there are no remonstrators in Hong Kong today, only eunuchs, and “institutionalizing eunuchs” is the goal of Beijing’s masters.

Feng Xiqian also pointed out that Hong Kong government officials do not need “counterfactual thinking” at all because they already have a “counterfactual personality” – when someone criticizes them, they just mechanically rebuke the other party’s remarks as “violating the facts” and “smearing” them. Everything feels perfect.

In addition, as 2023 comes to an end, as the global stock market recovers, Hong Kong stocks continue to be sluggish, with the Hang Seng Index falling for the fourth consecutive year and recently returning to the “97” level of 16,000 points. Among them, the market closed at 16,342 points on Thursday (December 7), down 131 points, with a turnover of only about HK$89 billion.

Li Zhaobo, an honorary teaching and research scholar at the Asia-Pacific Business Institute of the CUHK Business School, told Free Asia that as international rating agencies downgraded Hong Kong’s outlook to negative, the Hong Kong authorities should learn from the experience and reflect on their role, and be careful not to rely too much on the mainland for investment. , otherwise it would be inferior to Shanghai and Shenzhen, and it would be difficult to call it an international financial center.

Li Zhaobo also pointed out that only by rebuilding investment relations with the United States and Europe, which have mature and stable investment conditions, can Hong Kong greatly enhance investor confidence, which is expected to help Hong Kong secure its position as an international financial center. Otherwise, if the current situation continues , it’s not far from entering the “ruins”.

Slap Li Jiachao in the face of US Deputy Secretary of State-designate: He was never invited to participate in APEC

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit was held in the United States last month. Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chao was unable to attend in person, citing “scheduling matters.” The Hong Kong government claimed to confirm that Lee Ka-chiu himself had received an invitation from the United States to attend the summit. However, Kurt Campbell, U.S. President Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of state, made it clear in response to a question a few days ago that the U.S. executive branch has never invited Li Jiachao to attend.

Kurt Campbell, the White House National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs, known as the “Asia Czar”, was nominated by President Biden to serve as the US Deputy Secretary of State early last month. Campbell, who has extensive diplomatic experience, attended the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s confirmation hearing on Thursday (7th).

Voice of America reported that Campbell made it clear in response to a question from Jim Risch, the committee’s top Republican, that “we have made it very clear to the Chinese (Republican) and Hong Kong governments that he (Lee Ka-chao) will not be subject to Welcome, in fact, he had to send a second person to attend, and he did. So, I want to emphasize that we never planned for him to attend (APEC).”

Many members of the U.S. Congress have previously asked the Biden administration to clarify whether Li Jiachao, who is subject to U.S. sanctions, was invited to attend the meeting in San Francisco, the United States. This is the first time that the Biden administration has officially publicly denied the Hong Kong government’s claim that Li Jiachao received an invitation from the United States.

Before this year’s APEC Leaders’ Summit, four cross-party US congressmen signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, pointing out that the Hong Kong government had violently suppressed peaceful protesters in 2019. Inviting Li Jiachao to attend the summit would send a message to human rights abusers around the world. A scary sign.

More than 50 overseas groups, including the Hong Kong Democracy Committee, Hong Kong Watch, multiple overseas Hong Kong groups, Uyghurs, Tibetans, etc., jointly issued an open letter calling on the US government to promptly and clearly state its position and not allow Lee to attend. APEC summit.

On October 31, the Hong Kong government issued a press release claiming that “Hong Kong, China, has received an invitation from the host as usual” to attend the meeting. However, due to “schedule matters”, Li Ka-chiu appointed Financial Secretary Paul Chan to attend on his behalf.

On November 1, the Hong Kong government issued another press release in response to media inquiries, stating that “the SAR government confirmed that Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu himself has received an invitation from the United States to attend the meeting.”

The news sparked heated discussions online.

Some netizens joked that if you give face to others and lose it to yourself, you (referring to Li Jiachao) should not sleep well tonight!

Some netizens also ridiculed that the United States must be blamed and the truth revealed, so that the Chief Executive would lose face!

Chow Ting describes Hong Kong as a place of fear. British artist’s works reveal the silence of death

Zhou Ting, the former secretary-general of Hong Kong Demosisto, who recently announced that he would abandon bail and decide to study in Canada, has been interviewed by foreign media for several days. In an exclusive interview with the British broadcaster BBC on December 7, she described Hong Kong as a “land of fear.”

Zhou Ting was sentenced to 10 months in prison three years ago during the “anti-extradition” movement. Two months after his release, he was arrested for colluding with foreign forces. Since then, he has been on bail pending investigation and was allowed to arrive on bail during the bail period. Studying in Canada, now I have decided to give up my bail. She told the BBC that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still closely monitored her after she was released from prison. She could not find a job and could not even open a bank account.

Zhou Ting, 27, said, “How can I continue to live under this kind of control for 10, 20 or even 30 years?”

Zhou Ting told the BBC that the decision was made in November. In October this year, she originally bought a flight ticket back to Hong Kong, but the fear of being arrested, jailed and under comprehensive surveillance came to mind, and she finally decided to abandon bail in November. “I made the decision at the last minute because I didn’t want to risk being arrested again. Risk, I don’t want to be sent to China again.”

When asked what he misses most about Hong Kong, Zhou Ting paused for a long time. She said she was reminded of how Hong Kong people united to “fight for fairness and justice,” but she also felt scared at the same time.

“Over the past three years, it has become a place of fear. Every part of my daily life is completely controlled by the government. It saddens me that I feel afraid to return to my hometown,” Zhou Ting said.

After Zhou Ting publicly announced that he had abandoned bail, the Hong Kong government threatened to pursue him for life. Zhou Ting admitted that he was worried about extradition and that there might be a “secret police” from the Chinese Communist Party in Toronto.

Several human rights groups have accused the CCP of setting up police stations overseas to hunt down people considered a thorn in Beijing’s side.

Zhou Ting said: “Of course I will be cautious when I go out, but I also want to try things that I have not been able to do in Hong Kong in the past three years.” “My hope is not only to live safely, but also to live freely.”

In addition, Martin Lever, a British painter who grew up in Hong Kong, has also left Hong Kong in recent years due to the changing political environment. However, his paintings will be exhibited in London soon, describing the plight of Hong Kong under the national security law.

Voice of America reported that Li Hua and his family lived in Hong Kong with his father since he was a child. By the time he left Hong Kong, he had lived in Hong Kong for a total of 36 years.

Li Hua said that the experience of returning to Hong Kong for quarantine during the CCP virus epidemic made him feel painful, but the more important reason that forced him to leave was that after the “Hong Kong National Security Law” came into effect, he doubted the future of Hong Kong.

Li Hua said that after seeing the national security law, the Hong Kong government investigated previous incidents, suppressed those who criticized Beijing, and closed Apple Daily, which made him very sad and angry. Determined to use art to express the struggles of Hong Kong people after leaving Hong Kong.

In his new work “Silent Protest”, in libraries, subways, banks, courts, etc., Hong Kong people’s mouths have become closed zippers or covered by masks, which symbolizes the “Hong Kong National Security Law” 》There was a dead silence in different corners of Hong Kong.

76-year-old Jimmy Lai celebrates his third birthday in prison

Today (8th) is the 76th birthday of Jimmy Lai, the founder of Apple Daily, and it is also his third birthday spent in prison. Hong Kong Monitor issued a message to send blessings to Jimmy Lai from afar, and asked the British Prime Minister and Foreign Minister to publicly call for Lai’s release. In addition, the national security case involving Jimmy Lai is expected to be tried on the 18th of this month.

Hong Kong Supervisory Authority posted on the social platform Facebook today that Jimmy Lai, who celebrates his 76th birthday today, has been imprisoned for multiple crimes in the past three years and is still awaiting trial under the National Security Law.

On the platform, Hong Kong surveillance lit 76 candles on the cake to symbolize Jimmy Lai’s hope in the darkness of Hong Kong’s continued violations of basic civil liberties and the rights of more than a thousand political prisoners.

In addition, in the Victoria Park mass rally case on August 18, 2019, nine pro-democracy figures were found guilty of “organizing an unauthorized assembly” and “knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly” and were sentenced to 8 to 18 months in prison. , 3 people were sentenced to probation.

Subsequently, Jimmy Lai, former stake chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, former Legislative Council members Margaret Ng, Leung Kwok-hung, Ho Sau-lan, Ho Chun-yan, and Democratic Party founding chairman Martin Lee were successful in their appeals and had their “organized assembly without approval” revoked. Convicted, some received reduced sentences, but the original verdict was upheld on the charge of “knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly.”

The Department of Justice and the seven defendants were dissatisfied with the ruling and applied to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal. The Court of Appeal rejected the Department of Justice’s application on the 8th, but considered that some of the issues raised by the seven pro-democracy activists involved legal arguments of major and widespread importance, and therefore granted leave to appeal.

Editor in charge: Lin Li