Another red alert comes from the Hong Kong Government’s finances. The authorities said lately that Hong Kong’s recovery after the pandemic is far from expected, and the fiscal deficit may exceed HK$100 billion (US$13 billion). That scenario makes many financial industry insiders worry that if Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves decline further, it will wobble the once stable linked exchange rate mechanism that has been in force for the last 40 years. In the latest “Policy Address,” the Hong Kong government proposed to reduce the stamp duty on share transactions and adjust the “harsh measures” previously implemented on the property market. Coupled with the reduction in income from land sales and stamp duty expected this fiscal year, as well as the expenditure the treasury needs to cope with the new measures proposed by the policy address, it is likely to have more than HK$100 billion (US$13 billion) deficit. Including this one, there are four years out of the last six that the government has seen deficits, and this year is likely to become the third year of recording over HK$100 billion in negative incomes....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/hks-linked-exchange-rate-mechanism-likely-to-wobble-with-budget-deficit-forecast-to-exceed-hk100-billion-5519875
Commentary The United States needs to pivot its defence from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to deal with China, its number one strategic competitor, according to eminent U.S. political scientist John Mearsheimer, but will have trouble doing that because of its entanglement in Ukraine and the Middle East. Mr. Mearsheimer, who was a guest of the Centre for Independent Studies, was talking in Brisbane, Australia. He is from the “realist” school of international relations, which means that he thinks great powers should, and do, act only in their own interests. It’s a pity Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was not able to hear him and was already en route to Washington to lobby for AUKUS at the time....
Michelle Zhang, a Canadian of Chinese origin, is calling on the government to confront Beijing’s foreign interference. She says she and her family have endured ongoing threats and harassment in Canada over the last 22 years, which she asserts is an extension of the regime’s persecution of her spiritual adherence to Falun Gong. In 2001, while living in Vancouver, Ms. Zhang says she became a target for several years after speaking out publicly against the oppression of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For example, around 2003, her car window was smashed while parked overnight outside her apartment building, and months later, she discovered that someone had dumped a large amount of excrement on her balcony....
China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly shrunk in October, according to state official survey data, a negative sign showing that the world’s second-biggest economy is facing a bumpy road to recovery. China’s National Bureau of Statistics data, released on Oct. 31, showed that the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) declined to 49.5 in October, compared with 50.2 in September. The official PMI is below market expectations as both Reuter’s and Bloomberg’s survey of economists projected China’s official PMI of 50.2 in October. Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI also dropped to 50.6 in October, down from 51.7 in September, indicating a slowdown in activity in the vast service sector and construction....