Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     Nominations for the Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development 2026 (the Award) organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will close on May 18. Interested developer, management company, design company, owners’ organisation, landscape or horticultural company of the property should grasp the opportunity to submit nomination, with prior consent from the owners’ representative group of the property concerned. Entry to the competition is free of charge.
 
     The biennial Award is one of the LCSD’s major activities to promote greening. It aims at commending private property developments that excel in landscape design and horticultural maintenance. The Award also aims to drive sustained environmental improvements in private property developments by encouraging private bodies to incorporate more high-quality green elements into the planning and management of horticultural projects of such developments.
 
     Entries must be properties and facilities located within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The landscape and green areas of the entries must be for communal use or accessible to the public or residents. The competition is divided into six categories, including the Subsidised Sale Housing category, which is newly introduced this year. Please visit the LCSD’s website www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/green/property/2026/index.html for details, and download the prospectus and nomination form.
 
     Each category features a Gold Award, Merit Award(s) and Environmental Efficiency Award(s). Additionally, a Supreme Gold Award has been introduced this year and will be presented to the most outstanding entry among all Gold Award winners.
 
     Completed nomination forms together with all necessary documents must reach the Secretariat of the Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development 2026 on or before May 18 through email, by post or in person. For enquiries, please call 2601 8026.
 
     The Best Landscape Award for Private Property Development 2026 is organised by the LCSD and co-organised by the Home Affairs Department, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, the Institute of Horticulture (Hong Kong), the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, the Professional Green Building Council, the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies and the Hong Kong Green Building Council.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

A girl who went missing in Tai Po has been located.

Law Wing-yan, aged 15, went missing after she left her care centre in Tai Mei Tuk on March 15 morning. Staff of the care centre made a report to Police on the same day.

The girl was located in Tin Sum this afternoon (May 3). She sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published today (May 4) the results of the Survey on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)’ Credit Conditions for the first quarter of 2026. According to the survey, SMEs’ credit conditions remained broadly stable.

Regarding SMEs’ perception of banks’ credit approval stance relative to six months ago, excluding respondents who answered “no idea/don’t know”, 73 per cent perceived a “similar” or “easier” credit approval stance in the first quarter of 2026, up from 70 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 1 in the Annex). 27 per cent perceived a “more difficult” credit approval stance, compared to 30 per cent in the previous quarter. The perception of a more difficult credit approval stance may not necessarily reflect actual difficulties faced by SMEs in obtaining bank credit as the perception could be affected by a number of factors, such as media/news reports, business conditions and opinions of relatives and friends.

Among respondents with existing credit lines, 0 per cent reported a “tighter” banks’ stance, down from 1 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 2 in the Annex). In this survey, a tighter stance on existing credit lines denotes a range of possible measures or arrangements, such as reducing unused and used credit lines, raising the interest rate, imposing additional collateral requirements, or shortening loan tenor. Therefore, respondents’ indication of banks’ stance on existing credit lines may not directly reflect banks’ supply of credit to SMEs.

The survey also gauged the results of new credit applications from SMEs. 2 per cent of the respondents reported that they had applied for new bank credit during the first quarter of 2026. Among the respondents who had already known their application outcomes, 91 per cent reported fully or partially successful applications, up from 77 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 3 in the Annex).

Owing to small sample sizes of SMEs with existing credit lines (12 per cent of surveyed SMEs) and with new credit applications (2 per cent of surveyed SMEs) during the quarter, the results could be prone to large fluctuations, and hence should be interpreted with care.

About Survey on SMEs’ Credit Conditions

In light of the importance of SMEs to the Hong Kong economy and concerns about potential funding difficulties facing SMEs over the past few years, the HKMA has appointed the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to carry out this survey, starting from the third quarter of 2016. This survey is conducted on a quarterly basis, covering about 2 500 SMEs from different economic sectors each time. The results of this survey can help monitor the development of SMEs’ access to bank credit from a demand-side perspective.

The results of this survey should be interpreted with caution. Similar to other opinion surveys, views collected in this survey may be affected by changes in sentiment due to idiosyncratic events that occurred over the survey period, which can make the results prone to fluctuations. Readers are advised to interpret the results together with other economic and financial information. In addition, views collected are limited to the expected direction of inter-quarter changes (e.g. “tighter”, “no change” or “easier”) without providing information about the magnitude of these changes.

Detailed tables and technical information of this survey are published on the website of the HKPC (smecc.hkpc.org).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Labour Department (LD) promulgated today (May 4) the revised “Code of Practice in Times of Adverse Weather and ‘Extreme Conditions'” (CoP). The revised CoP sets out the relevant guidelines in a reader-friendly and concise manner, reiterating the three major principles for formulating work arrangements under adverse weather and extreme conditions (including formulating work arrangements in advance, giving prime consideration to employees’ safety, and complying with requirements of labour legislation), and incorporating corporate examples for reference.

Formulate work arrangements* arrangements in respect of early release from work; 
* arrangements in respect of work resumption (e.g. the number of hours within which employees should resume duty after the relevant warning signal is cancelled or the extreme conditions come to an end, when safety and traffic conditions allow);
* arrangements in respect of remote work (if applicable);
* arrangements regarding wages and allowances (e.g. calculation of wages and allowances in respect of reporting for duty); and
* arrangements for staff required to report for duty in times of adverse weather and extreme conditions,” a spokesman for the LD said.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (May 6) at 11am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on “Empowering all industries through ‘Artificial Intelligence Plus’ to promote the development of digital economy and smart society”. The motion, moved by Professor William Wong, is set out in Appendix 1. Dr Johnny Ng, Mr Ng Wun-kit and Ms Elizabeth Quat will move separate amendments to Professor Wong’s motion.

     Mr Jonathan Leung will move a motion on “Promoting ‘tourism + catering'”. The motion is set out in Appendix 2. Ms Vivian Kong, Mr Chan Pok-chi and Mr Yiu Pak-leung will move separate amendments to Mr Leung’s motion.

     Meanwhile, Mr Chan Chun-ying will move a motion under Rule 49E(2) of the Rules of Procedure to take note of a report of the House Committee on consideration of subsidiary legislation and other instruments. The motion is set out in Appendix 3.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Members of the public can watch or listen to the meeting via the “Webcast” system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meeting at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

April 27, 2026  No.164  Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung, serving in the capacity of special presidential envoy, completed a successful two-day visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini on April 26 after being seen off at the airport by Eswatini Minister of Foreign Affairs Pholile Shakantu, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, and members of the Taiwanese overseas community.

During the final day of his visit, Minister Lin accompanied Eswatini Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula to inspect the operations of the Taiwan Medical Mission’s smart medicine clinic at Manzini Government Hospital.

Through collaboration with Taiwan’s International Integrated Systems, the Taipei Medical University Hospital-operated medical mission had relocated to Manzini Government Hospital over a period of just six months and successfully implemented digital queuing, smart medication dispensing, and telemedicine systems.

In remarks during his visit, Minister Lin said that Manzini Government Hospital was being elevated to the status of smart medicine demonstration hospital. He said that this symbolized the start of a new era of Taiwan-Eswatini cooperation on digitalization, optimization, and smart medicine.

In addition to acclaiming upgrades to hardware, Minister Lin also emphasized the results of talent cultivation. Giving words of encouragement to a number of Eswatini physicians who had returned home after graduating from I-Shou University, Minister Lin said that their white coats represented their expertise and the hope of their nation. He said that he looked forward to seeing them become seeds of Taiwan-Eswatini friendship and employ their professionalism and dedication to refine Eswatini’s healthcare system.

Minister Matsebula and Dr. Candice Banda, a representative of the graduates of I-Shou University’s medical program, expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Taiwan for its long-term support and contributions to public health and medicine in Eswatini.

Minister Lin also went on to tour the Taiwan-Eswatini Aquaculture Research and Production Centre, which was officially opened in 2025. Through large-scale fish fry cultivation and the use of growth optimization technology, the center has successfully assisted Eswatini in transitioning from traditional family-based aquaculture to a more commercially scaled industrial system, significantly improving the economic value of aquaculture produce.

In addition, Minister Lin visited a demonstration farm and orchard to observe the results of planting such high-value crops as guava, dragon fruit, and strawberry. These operations have successfully driven the transformation of Eswatini’s agricultural makeup and enabled local farmers to participate and compete in higher-profit markets.

Minister Lin stressed that a core feature of all these initiatives was a focus on sustainable advancements and the commercialization of Eswatini’s industries. Noting that such efforts pursued their objectives through a “Taiwan can help, Eswatini can lead” approach, Minister Lin reiterated that Taiwan would continue to reinforce Eswatini’s leadership in a range of fields. 

Despite the brevity and challenging circumstances of his two-day visit, Minister Lin was able to personally convey Taiwan’s good wishes to Eswatini. His visit further deepened the two nations’ friendship and put their vision for sustainable and prosperous development on an even firmer footing. Moreover, it showed that Taiwan would remain undeterred by any difficulties in its global interactions, and demonstrated Taiwan’s unwavering resolve and resilience in engaging with the world. (E)