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POLITICSOct 22Hong Kong ranks 24th in global rule of law index as overall score fallsHong Kong has been ranked 24th in the latest global rule of law index, despite slipping slightly in the fundamental rights and criminal justice categories. The index, released by the World Justice Project on Wednesday, showed the city remained among the world’s top 10 for “absence of corruption” and “order and security”, rising to seventh in the latter category. The organisation said the global erosion of the rule of law slowed in 2026, but the overall decline continued, with 62 per cent of the...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 22Hong Kong’s Bay Area visionThis is the fifth in a series of factsheets about Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the 2026 policy address. Click here to view the other factsheets. The series has been produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This factsheet will appear in the SCMP print edition on October 26. You can find the newspaper at newsstands and convenience stores. For inquiries, contact printsupport@scmp.com.South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 21Hong Kong semi-private schools admit 20 more non-local students under expansion schemeAbout 20 more non-local students have been admitted to Hong Kong semi-private schools under a government scheme to boost the city’s status as an international education hub, with a principal urging authorities to do more to promote the initiative to prospective pupils. Education authorities said on Wednesday that the non-local students holding student visas this year came from countries including Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and several European nations. Ida Lee Bik-sai,...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 21Hong Kong’s Election Committee race: more contests, familiar faces and what comes nextNominations have closed for Hong Kong’s Election Committee election, setting the stage for the November 22 poll. The poll, the second since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system to ensure patriots rule Hong Kong, will return 1,500 members who will nominate and vote in next year’s chief executive election. Here’s all you need to know about the 2026 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections, now that nominations have closed: from the hopefuls’ line-up and the heavyweights in the...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 21Work on Hong Kong’s Peak trail light project suspended amid environmental outcryWork on a controversial lighting project along walking trails on The Peak has been suspended amid mounting complaints that the installations were damaging the environment, the South China Morning Post has learned. The project’s future remains uncertain after residents accused the Tourism Board of removing trees and flowers to make way for the installations, while a lawmaker said a district councillor from the city’s largest political party had not been involved in the initial...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 20Hong Kong child sex sentences remain far below maximum life, report findsAverage sentences for Hong Kong’s gravest child sex crimes have remained below 10 years over the past three decades, far below the maximum penalty of life imprisonment, prompting a call for a sentencing council to issue clearer judicial guidance. Citing data from 401 publicly available judgments between 1990 and 2025, University of Hong Kong law professor Puja Kapai on Tuesday said her research found six offences – including rape, buggery, and unlawful sexual intercourse – carried average prison...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 19Apec in Hong Kong: what to know as 500 delegates descend on the cityGlobal attention will turn to Hong Kong this week as about 500 senior officials and delegates from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s 21 members gather in the city for the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is the first time Hong Kong has hosted the meeting, with Beijing’s support, as mainland China prepares to host the Apec leaders’ summit in Shenzhen next month. Hong Kong joined Apec in 1991 and has continued to take part in the economic forum’s affairs under the...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 19Art or box office? How Hong Kong plans to measure the value of a play, ballet or symphonyEstablished performing arts groups in Hong Kong should rely less on public subsidies to make way for emerging companies, industry experts have said, after the city’s leader announced a revamp of the funding model in favour of a more flexible, non-permanent and merit-based system. But a few directors of the city’s nine designated major performing arts groups in music, dance and theatre said the economic downturn had made private funds harder to secure and urged the government to take a long-term...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 19From pandas to Peak vistas, Hong Kong sets out to captivate Apec delegatesGiant pandas, open-top bus rides, a Chinese cooking class, traditional opera, a harbour cruise, the Big Buddha, and The Peak are among the highlights of a packed social programme for VIPs attending this week’s meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. According to official itineraries obtained by the SCMP, about 500 delegates and guests from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s 21 member economies have been offered a range of activities...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 18Hong Kong to review Peak lighting installation after outcry over felled treesHong Kong tourism authorities have pledged to review the roll-out of a lighting project along a trail on The Peak after mounting complaints that flowers and trees were chopped down to make way for the installations. But the Tourism Board defended the project, saying it had consulted local residents and sought advice from tree experts to minimise the impact on the surrounding environment. In a statement on Sunday, the board said it valued residents’ views and would now “conduct broader...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 17Growing number of ex-officials enter race for Hong Kong Election Committee seatsA growing number of former senior government officials have joined the race for seats on Hong Kong’s Election Committee, a trend observers say will enhance the prestige and legitimacy of the body tasked with choosing the city’s next leader. As the two-week nomination period draws to a close next Tuesday, the Registration and Electoral Office had received 1,115 nominations for 982 elected seats on the Election Committee as of Friday. The poll will be held on November 22 and the elected members...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 16Hong Kong housewife gets 3 months in psychiatric institution over seditious postersAn elderly woman who pasted materials containing pro-independence slogans and Hong Kong’s colonial-era flag outside her flat has been sentenced to three months in a maximum-security psychiatric institution for displaying seditious publications. West Kowloon Court ordered housewife Yang Chau-ki, 62, to undergo mandatory psychiatric treatment at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre on Friday. She was charged with knowingly displaying publications with seditious intent under Hong Kong’s Article 23...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 16Hong Kong to carry out 24-hour patrols near Apec meeting venue and delegate hotelsHong Kong police will conduct round-the-clock patrols in Wan Chai from Friday as part of enhanced security arrangements for the coming Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting, as delegates begin arriving in the city, the South China Morning Post has learned. Delegates from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member economies will travel to Hong Kong as early as Friday for preparatory work, although most ministers are not expected to arrive until Sunday at the earliest. They will stay at several top...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 16Hong Kong Apec meet to showcase ‘China’s voice’ in stability, treasury chief saysThe coming Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong will demonstrate “China’s voice” in regional stability, with the city uniquely placed to bring together regional leaders for important exchanges in a geopolitically charged world, the treasury chief has said. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the timing of the meeting of finance ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 14Hong Kong urged to add online safety briefings, penalise no-shows at public gymsHong Kong should make better use of its public gyms by allowing online safety briefings and penalising no-shows, an industry leader and a lawmaker have urged after the ombudsman identified management loopholes. The Office of the Ombudsman launched the inquiry into public gym management on Tuesday, noting that rigid mandatory training requirements combined with a severe shortage of places were creating significant barriers to public participation and leaving facilities underused. The watchdog...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 14In Hong Kong, accountability must be more than a sloganWhen news broke last week that three newly completed housing blocks were to be demolished without ever having been occupied, I suffered an immediate attack of deja vu. In early 1974, I was in the first wave of recruits to the Operations Department of the newly established Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). As luck would have it, my first posting was to the team dealing with the old Public Works Department. That was my introduction to the wide world of corruption and shoddy work in...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 13Taiwanese finance minister plans to join Apec meeting in Hong KongTaiwanese Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun plans to attend the Apec meeting in Hong Kong, where the Chinese finance chief is due to deliver the opening speech. Chuang’s ministry told Reuters on Tuesday she would attend the meeting “as is customary”. Hong Kong is hosting the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting on October 20 and 21, while the Economic Leaders’ Summit will take place in Shenzhen next month. China is the summit host for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this year. In response...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 13Hong Kong renews TV station licences with push for ‘telling good stories’Hong Kong authorities have renewed the free-to-air licences of the city’s television broadcasters with conditions to boost local production of English-language national education shows and programmes aimed at “telling good stories” of the city. The Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body, approved the renewal on Tuesday, extending 12-year licences to all three broadcasters. These licences will run until 2039 for HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE) and TVB, and until 2040 for...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 12Hong Kong can boost regional prosperity through ‘soft connectivity’, adviser saysHong Kong’s institutional advantages and close ties with mainland China and the wider world can contribute to the Asia-Pacific region’s prosperity, a key adviser to the city’s leader has told a conference. Stephen Wong Yuen-shan, head of the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit, said on Monday that Hong Kong was transforming itself into the region’s institutional “harbour” – where trade from regional markets could converge and take advantage of the city’s “soft connectivity” advantages. He said such...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 12Ex-US FDA official to lead Hong Kong’s new medical products regulatorA Beijing-educated former official at the US federal drug regulator has been appointed to lead Hong Kong’s new medical products body, tasked with accelerating the clinical use of medicines and medical devices as part of a regulatory overhaul. Li Zili, who previously worked at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), would take up the post of controller for medical products regulation under the Department of Health on a three-year term beginning October 20, the government said on Monday. He...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 9Hong Kong lawmakers back 5-year plan as firms urged to align with blueprintHong Kong’s legislature has passed motions supporting the city’s first five-year plan and thanking Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu for his latest policy address, while Beijing’s top representative in the city urged mainland Chinese enterprises to align themselves with the government’s blueprint. At the close of a three-day Legislative Council debate on Friday, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki thanked lawmakers for their suggestions, saying they would help improve governance. “The process of...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 9Bessent may skip Apec in Hong Kong to focus on Trump’s Shenzhen visit, sources sayUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may skip a meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong later this month to focus on preparing for President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Shenzhen in November, sources told the South China Morning Post. Bessent is expected to meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Shenzhen ahead of Trump’s visit – when Trump will again hold talks with President Xi Jinping – as the two sides look to secure a longer extension of the bilateral trade truce, which is due to...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 9Legal arguments delay trial over murder of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi againThe murder trial of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has been delayed again while the court addresses legal issues raised by lawyers in the high-profile case. Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith told the nine-member jury on Friday that the hearing would resume on Monday, once the legal arguments had concluded. Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, had been expected to face cross-examination by counsel for Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, on the fifth day of her testimony. He is standing...South China Morning Post
POLITICSOct 9Hong Kong needs tougher inspection regime, experts say after CK Asset building fiascoLawmakers and engineering sector leaders have called for a review of Hong Kong’s building inspection mechanism and a blacklist to bar errant contractors from government tenders, after Hong Kong’s first privately built “starter homes” project hit a snag over shoddy steel work. The government should review the inspection regime and increase its supervisory manpower, lawmakers and engineers said on Friday, calling for inspectors to be stationed at construction sites of private-sector-built...South China Morning Post
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