Director General David Cheng-Wei Wu and Mrs. Wu, together with Ms. May Chiang, Director of the Culture Centre of OCAC in Sydney, and President Kathy Sieh of the Australian Taiwanese Friendship Association, accompanied by team members Lily and Michelle, warmly welcomed the 2025 Taiwanese Culture Goodwill Mission of the National Day of R.O.C. (Taiwan), led by former OCAC Minister Wu Hsin-Hsing, at Sydney Airport.
To further support the overseas community’s celebration of the ROC (Taiwan) National Day, the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) has organized the 2025 Taiwanese Culture Goodwill Mission, selecting the Taiwanese performing arts group Formosa Melody Music Center for an international tour. After their first performance in sunny Brisbane, the tour has now arrived at the vibrant metropolis of the Southern Hemisphere—Sydney.
We wish the troupe every success for an amazing performance on September 22, 2025, at The Concourse Theatre in Chatswood.
As the second event of the 114th R.O.C. (Taiwan) Double Tenth celebrations, the highly anticipated and immensely popular 4th Table Tennis Championship kicked off today at Ku-ring-gai Town Hall.
Together with Ku-ring-gai Mayor Christine Kay and Councillor Barbara Ward, Director General David Cheng-Wei Wu, Mrs. Wu, and the TECO team joined the event. We thanked the Taiwanese community for voluntarily organizing such a wonderful series of activities and encouraged everyone to show great sportsmanship and resilience as we celebrate our National Day.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Hospital Authority service arrangements announced The HA anticipates that a large number of backlogged cases will have to be handled after the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 is cancelled. In view of potentially continuing adverse weather conditions, some non-emergency services may still be affected. The HA will announce arrangements for services to be available on Thursday (September 25) in due course.
The HA reminds that non-urgent patients should avoid visiting public hospitals or clinics during the storm or adverse weather conditions for the sake of safety. “Public hospitals will resume all affected non-emergency services as soon as possible after the Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No. 8 is cancelled. Affected patients will be notified gradually in the coming week to reschedule their appointments. Patients do not need to be concerned. All clusters have also set up hotlines for patients’ enquiries (see attached table),” the spokesperson supplemented.
L’important feu de forêt survenu le 21 septembre 2025, sur la commune de Sarraméa, au lieu-dit Plateau de Dogny, est désormais déclaré maîtrisé, grâce à la mobilisation et à l’efficacité des moyens déployés sur le terrain.
En conséquence, le dispositif ORSEC Feux de Forêt de niveau 2, mis en place sur les communes de Sarraméa, Canala et La Foa, est levé ce jour à 17 heures.
Le bilan définitif fait état d’aucune victime. La surface parcourue par les flammes est estimée à 60 hectares de végétation.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) announced today (September 22) that starting from October 1, nine additional residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) located in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan and Huizhou will join the Residential Care Services Scheme in Guangdong as Recognised Service Providers to provide subsidised residential care places for participating elderly persons.
The information on the additional RCHEs is as follows:
Name
Location
Guangzhou
1.
Guangzhou Chunxuanmao Senior Living Services Co., Ltd
(Operated under the partnership formed by the Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society, Kowloon and a Mainland elderly service operator)
Building G, 18 Kelin Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
Azure (Guangdong) Elderly Care Limited
(Operated under the partnership formed by Ganghui Medical Care Company Limited and a Mainland elderly service operator)
Azure (Guangdong) Elderly Care Limited, Shuitangmian Road, Aotou, Daya Bay District, Huizhou
9.
Huizhou Social Welfare Institute (Huizhou Social Welfare Service Center)
Together with the existing 15 RCHEs, the total number of RCHEs under the Scheme will increase to 24, located in eight Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Mainland cities, i.e. Guangzhou, Foshan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, Zhuhai and Huizhou, offering Hong Kong elderly persons more choices on cross-boundary elderly care.
Elderly persons who are waitlisted for subsidised residential care services on the Central Waiting List and would like to join the Scheme may contact their responsible workers to file an application. Applicants may also approach elderly centres, Integrated Family Service Centres or Medical Social Services Units in their district to make an application. After their care needs have been ascertained in the Standardised Care Need Assessment, they may apply for residential care services under the Scheme. Details of the Scheme are available on the SWD website: www.swd.gov.hk/en/pubsvc/elderly/cat_residentcare/subrcheplace/guangdong/index.html.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Hong Kong Customs today (September 21) detected four drug trafficking cases involving air passengers at Hong Kong International Airport and seized a total of about 25 kilograms of suspected cocaine, about 14 kilograms of suspected heroin, about 13 kilograms of suspected ketamine and about six kilograms of suspected cannabis buds with a total estimated market value of about $30 million. Four females were arrested.
In the first case, a 19-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Toronto, Canada today. During customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected cocaine, weighing about 25 kilograms with an estimated market value of about $18 million, in her check-in suitcase. The female was subsequently arrested.
In the second case, a 30-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Bangkok, Thailand today. During customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected heroin, weighing about 14 kilograms with an estimated market value of about $7 million, in her check-in suitcase. The female was subsequently arrested.
In the third case, a 37-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Brussels, Belgium today. During customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected ketamine, weighing about 13 kilograms with an estimated market value of about $4 million concealed in the food packages, in her check-in suitcase. The female was subsequently arrested.
In the fourth case, a 42-year-old female passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Bangkok, Thailand today. During customs clearance, Customs officers found the batch of suspected cannabis buds, weighing about six kilograms with an estimated market value of about $1.3 million concealed in the food packages, in her carry-on luggage. The female was subsequently arrested.
Investigations of these four cases are ongoing.
Customs will continue to step up enforcement against drug trafficking activities through intelligence analysis. The department also reminds members of the public to stay alert and not to participate in drug trafficking activities for monetary return. They must not accept hiring or delegation from another party to carry controlled items into and out of Hong Kong. They are also reminded not to carry unknown items for other people.
Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance to combat transnational drug trafficking activities.
Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.
Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
SFST to visit Slovenia and Poland Mr Hui is going to Slovenia on the invitation of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Klemen Boštjančič, to attend a high-level event which will gather members of the European Commission and the Eurogroup, as well as ministers of finance or senior financial officials from various countries and financial experts. He will also join a panel discussion at the event. In addition to meeting government officials, Mr Hui will attend an event hosted by the largest chamber of commerce there to promote the advantages of Hong Kong’s financial markets with a view to attracting European enterprises and investors to come to Hong Kong and utilise the city as the perfect platform to enter the Asian and Chinese markets.
He will then proceed to Poland where he will visit the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and meet with government officials and the business sector. He will also visit two Chinese enterprises which have set up a presence in Poland to learn more about how Hong Kong can better leverage its professional services and advantages as one of the top three international financial centres to help more companies expand overseas.
Mr Hui will return to Hong Kong on September 27. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, will be the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury. Issued at HKT 14:00