Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi will start deliveries of its first electric vehicle by the end of March, the firm’s boss said Tuesday, bringing its highly anticipated entry into the automotive industry to the brink of completion.

Xiaomi — the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer — also produces tablets, smartwatches, headphones, and scooters.

In 2021, the Beijing-based firm announced its planned foray into the electric vehicle sector, made highly competitive in recent months as top Chinese brands engage in an aggressive price war.

“The Xiaomi SU7 will be officially released on March 28,” Lei Jun, the company’s founder and CEO, wrote on Chinese social media site Weibo.

The announcement was accompanied by a photo of the new vehicle, which was first unveiled to the press in December.

The firm’s shares soared nearly 10 percent by midday in Hong Kong, where the firm is listed.

Equipped with Xiaomi software and electronic features, the SU7 is produced by Chinese auto giant BAIC.

Its batteries — with a driving range of up to 800 kilometres (500 miles) — are supplied by China’s largest electric automaker BYD, as well as domestic battery giant CATL.

“The goal is to become one of the world’s top five automotive manufacturers through 15 to 20 years of hard work,” Lei said in December.

Many top tech firms in China — the world’s largest auto market — have invested recently in the country’s EV sector, where foreign firms have struggled to get a foothold.

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi has achieved rapid growth through its strategy of marketing high-end devices at affordable prices, initially directly through online channels.

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The United States is launching an investigation into the national security risks of “connected vehicles,” focusing in particular on China-made technology, the US government said Thursday, as worries over data security grow.

The latest probe concerns vehicles that constantly connect with personal devices, other cars, US infrastructure and their manufacturers — including electric and self-driving cars.

And it comes as vehicles increasingly use advanced tech for navigational tools and driver assist features.

“China is determined to dominate the future of the auto market, including by using unfair practices,” said President Joe Biden in a statement.

“China’s policies could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security,” he added.

Under Biden’s direction, the Commerce Department will look into risks stemming from connected vehicles that use technology from “countries of concern” like China, mulling regulations to address such threats, said the White House.

As part of the probe, Commerce will collect information from the industry and public, with a 60-day comment period.

“China imposes restrictions on American autos and other foreign autos operating in China,” said Biden.

“Why should connected vehicles from China be allowed to operate in our country without safeguards?” he added.

Connected vehicles collect vast amounts of data on drivers and passengers, log information on US infrastructure through cameras and sensors, and can be piloted or disabled remotely, the White House noted.

As a result, it said, “new vulnerabilities” could arise if a foreign government gained access to their systems or data.

While there are not many such vehicles containing China-made tech on US roads currently, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stressed the need to “understand the extent of the technology in these cars.”

A senior US official told reporters on condition of anonymity that it is important to act before there are large numbers of these vehicles in the country, with the Chinese export market in autos growing rapidly and making strong inroads including in Europe.

In November, 14 members of Congress signed letters to 10 China-related companies involved in the auto sector — including Baidu, Didi Chuxing and AutoX — raising concerns over the handling of data collected when testing autonomous vehicles in the United States.

The letters noted that from December 2021 to November 2022, Chinese autonomous vehicle companies test drove more than 450,000 miles (724,205 kilometers) in California.

“There needs to be greater transparency around what information you collect while testing on American roads, and whether you are financially tied to the Chinese Communist Party,” the letters added.

Beyond autos, the White House said on Wednesday that Biden was issuing an executive order aimed at limiting the flow of sensitive US personal data abroad.

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The Chinese government on Monday called for heightened data security measures and anti-hacking protections for sensitive domestic companies, vowing to “effectively prevent and control major risks” by 2026.

China has in recent years accused other governments and foreign groups of launching cyberattacks on its digital infrastructure, while being blamed itself for sponsoring attacks abroad, including in the United States.

Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday called for the construction of a “data security protection system” in a document addressed to local governments and Chinese businesses.

Local governments must focus their attention on “businesses that have mastered key technologies… are related to the security and stability of the industrial chain, or have a bearing on national security”, the ministry said.

Officials must also “guide businesses to strengthen risk monitoring and emergency responses for important and core data”, with more than 45,000 companies expected to be enrolled in a national data protection and classification system by 2026.

Data leaks have been a persistent problem in China, with hackers claiming in 2022 to have accessed the personal information of a billion Chinese citizens, including summaries of incidents reported to the Shanghai police.

Another massive leak in the same year exposed millions of pieces of facial recognition and vehicle registration data belonging to Hangzhou-based tech company Xinai Electronics, TechCrunch reported.

The US arm of China’s largest bank, ICBC, said in November that it was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted its financial services systems.

US media at the time reported that ICBC had been targeted by Russian-linked ransomware specialist LockBit, which has attacked governments, major companies, schools and hospitals, causing billions of dollars of damage and extracting tens of millions in ransoms from victims.

China has also been accused of backing cyberattacks against foreign governments, with the Netherlands saying this month that Beijing’s hackers had installed malware in a computer network being used by the Dutch military.

Monday’s directive comes after a data leak from Chinese cybersecurity firm I-Soon that appeared to show staff hacking into neighbouring countries’ government servers and taking over individuals’ social media accounts.

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A massive data leak from Chinese cybersecurity firm I-Soon has offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Beijing-linked hackers.

I-Soon is yet to confirm the leak is genuine and has not responded to a request for comment from AFP.

As of Friday, the leaked data was removed from the online software repository GitHub, where it had been posted.

Analysts say the leak is a treasure-trove of intel into the day-to-day operations of China’s hacking programme, which the FBI says is the biggest of any country.

From staff complaints about pay and office gossip to claims of hacking foreign governments, here are some of the key insights from the leaks:

Who got hacked by I-Soon?

Every day, workers at I-Soon were targeting big fish.

Government agencies from China’s neighbours, including Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Cambodia, Mongolia and Vietnam, had websites or email servers compromised, the leak revealed.

There are long lists of targets, from British government departments to Thai ministries.

I-Soon staff also boasted in leaked chats that they secured access to telecom service providers in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Thailand and Malaysia, among others.

They named the government of India – a geopolitical rival of Beijing’s — as a key target for “infiltration”.

And they claimed to have secured back-end access to higher education institutions in Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.

But they also admitted to having lost access to some of their data seized from government agencies in Myanmar and South Korea.

Other targets are domestic, from China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang to Tibet and from illegal pornography to gambling rings.

Who was paying I-Soon?

Judging from the leaks, most of I-Soon’s customers were provincial or local police departments — as well as province-level state security agencies responsible for protecting the Communist Party from perceived threats to its rule.

The firm also offered clients help protecting their devices from hacking and securing their communications — with many of their contracts are listed as “non-secret”.

There were references to official corruption: in one chat, salesmen discussed selling the company’s products to police — and planned to give kickbacks to those involved in the sale.

There were also references to a client in Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of grave human rights.

But workers complained about the challenges of doing business in the tense region.

“Everyone thinks of Xinjiang like a nice big cake… but we have suffered too much there,” one said.

What techniques were for sale?

In their chats, I-Soon staffers told colleagues their main focuses were making “trojan horses” — malware disguised as legitimate software that allows hackers access to private data — and building databases of personal information.

“At the moment, the trojan horses are mainly customised for Beijing’s state security department,” one said.

It also laid out how the firm’s hackers could access and take over a person’s computer remotely, allowing them to execute commands and monitor what they type, known as keylogging.

Other services included ways to breach Apple’s iPhone and other smartphone operating systems, as well as custom hardware — including a powerbank that can extract data from a device and send it to the hackers.

In one screenshot of a conversation, someone describes a client request for exclusive access to the “foreign secretary’s office, foreign ministry’s ASEAN office, prime minister’s office national intelligence agency” and other government departments of an unnamed country.

One service offered is a tool that allows clients to break into accounts on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, claiming to be able to obtain the phone number of a user and break into their private messages.

They also have a technique to bypass two-step authentication — a common login technique that offers an extra level of security to the account.

What techniques were for sale?

The leak also paints a less-than-flattering picture of the day-to-day goings-on at a mid-level Chinese cybersecurity firm.

Chats are full of complaints about office politics, lack of basic tech expertise, poor pay and management, and the challenges the company faced in securing clients.

Other screenshots showed arguments between an employee and a supervisor over salaries.

And in another leaked chat, a staffer complained to their colleague that their boss had recently bought a car worth over a million yuan (US$139,000) instead of giving their team a pay rise.

“Does the boss dream about being an emperor?”

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By Matthew Walsh

Tiny electric cars weave through traffic in southern China, their cheap and cheerful designs bringing a touch of colour to the EV revolution in the country’s overlooked cities.

China is the world’s largest market for electric vehicles (EVs), with premium models by Tesla and homegrown giant BYD a common sight in the nation’s affluent megacities.

But in a growing number of less-developed areas, the face of greener transport is the Wuling Hongguang Mini — a dinky two-door runaround that sells for a fraction of the price.

China’s most popular EV to date, it has sold more than 1.2 million units, often to consumers with lower incomes in provincial cities and smaller towns.

“This car is small and convenient, easy to park and charge, and it’s cheap — that’s why I chose it,” a driver surnamed Cao told AFP as she loaded shopping bags into her vehicle in Liuzhou, in the southern Guangxi region.

“(It is) mainly used for picking up the kids, grocery shopping and work commutes,” the 47-year-old said.

Liuzhou, a city of around four million people, is more famous in China for misty mountains and pungent river-snail noodles than advanced technology.

But its locally made mini-EVs are proving a breakout success, and authorities have responded by providing charging stations, discounted parking spots and preferential policies for buyers.

Driver Tang Wenhui said he barely considered the environmental benefits when he and his family paid around 60,000 yuan (US$8,300) — the equivalent of a year’s wages — for a new Wuling a year ago.

“I just wanted something to get me around town… not necessarily to travel long distances,” the 23-year-old programmer told AFP.

“As a fresh graduate, it’s just made life a bit easier.”

‘Style accessory’

According to company specifications, the latest Hongguang Mini is around three metres (9.8 feet) long and less than 1.5 metres wide, seats four people and contains a lithium battery that runs for up to 215 kilometres (134 miles) on a single charge.

Prices start at 41,800 yuan (US$5,800), but older editions sell for around 30,000 yuan –- an eighth of what Tesla’s flagship Model 3 costs.

Wuling is not the only player in the sector, with domestic automakers Dongfeng Motor, Chery and Geely all producing their own miniature EVs.

But Wuling has given itself some staying power by nurturing a devoted community of younger female fans calling themselves “Wuling girls”.

The cars embrace cuteness with pastel-pink and lemon-yellow bodywork, with editions named after French pastries and Japanese gaming consoles.

And many buyers spend additional sums to personalise their motors with brightly coloured polka dots, racing stripes and anime cartoons.

Cao’s ruby-red car is adorned with a large white decal in the shape of Mickey Mouse alongside smaller stickers of other cartoon characters.

“I feel it’s cute,” the Liuzhou resident told AFP as she recharged her car near the riverside, adding that her friends had done the same.

Tu Le, founder of consultancy Sino Auto Insights, said the affordability meant “many people in smaller cities tend to treat them less as a vehicle and more as a style accessory”.

“That’s why it’s popular to purchase aftermarket products to decorate them and make them more unique,” he said. “But they are still able to provide transportation to their buyers for their daily commute.”

Leading the charge

China views new-energy vehicles as a critical emerging industry and has ramped up state support as it seeks to make its economy more self-sufficient and based on high-end manufacturing.

The sector is also an important component of Beijing’s pledge to bring emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030 and reduce them to net zero by 2060.

The domestic industry hit an inflection point when homegrown giant BYD dethroned Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s top EV seller in the fourth quarter of last year.

But lower-end cars like the Hongguang Mini are “extremely important for the China market”, said Tu of Sino Auto Insights.

Online, some prospective buyers voice concern that the cars may not be safe, pointing to their lightweight construction and the lack of airbags and other features in older models.

A lack of charging infrastructure in many smaller cities and long-running struggles by some automakers to make the cars profitable also cloud the sector’s future.

Still, Tu said, the cars help to rein in a global trend towards bigger, gas-guzzling cars that make traffic and pollution worse.

And they “create options for those that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford their own transportation”, he told AFP.

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By Oliver Hotham with Jing Xuan Teng in Shanghai

A Chinese tech security firm was able to breach foreign governments, infiltrate social media accounts and hack personal computers, a massive data leak analysed by experts this week revealed.

The trove of documents from I-Soon, a private company that competed for Chinese government contracts, shows that its hackers compromised more than a dozen governments, according to cybersecurity firms SentinelLabs and Malwarebytes.

I-Soon also breached “democracy organisations” in China’s semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, universities and the NATO military alliance, SentinelLabs researchers wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

The leaked data, the contents of which AFP was unable to immediately verify, was posted last week on the online software repository GitHub by an unknown individual.

“The leak provides some of the most concrete details seen publicly to date, revealing the maturing nature of China’s cyber espionage ecosystem,” SentinelLabs analysts said.

I-Soon was able to breach government offices in India, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea, among others, Malwarebytes said in a separate post on Wednesday.

I-Soon’s website was not available Thursday morning, though an internet archive snapshot of the site from Tuesday says it is based in Shanghai, with subsidiaries and offices in Beijing, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The firm did not reply to a request for comment.

Asked by AFP on Thursday about whether Beijing contracted hackers, China’s foreign ministry said it was “not aware” of the case.

“As a principle, China firmly opposes all forms of cyberattacks and cracks down on them in accordance with law,” spokesperson Mao Ning said.

Hacks for contracts

The leak contains hundreds of files showing chatlogs, presentations and lists of targets.

AFP found what appeared to be lists of Thai and UK government departments among the leaks, as well as screenshots of attempts to log into an individual’s Facebook account.

Other screenshots showed arguments between an employee and a supervisor over salaries, as well as a document describing software aimed at accessing a target’s Outlook emails.

“As demonstrated by the leaked documents, third-party contractors play a significant role in facilitating and executing many of China’s offensive operations in the cyber domain,” SentinelLabs analysts said.

In one screenshot of a chat app conversation, someone describes a client request for exclusive access to the “foreign secretary’s office, foreign ministry’s ASEAN office, prime minister’s office national intelligence agency” and other government departments of an unnamed country.

Analysts who examined the files said the company also offered potential clients the ability to break into accounts of individuals on social media platform X — monitoring their activity, reading their private messages, and sending posts.

It also laid out how the firm’s hackers could access and take over a person’s computer remotely, allowing them to execute commands and monitor what they type.

Other services included ways to breach Apple’s iPhone and other smartphone operating systems, as well as custom hardware — including a powerbank that can extract data from a device and send it to the hackers.

Xinjiang ties

Analysts said the leak also showed I-Soon bidding for contracts in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, where Beijing stands accused of detaining hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim people as part of a campaign against alleged extremism. The United States has called it a genocide.

“The company listed other terrorism-related targets the company had hacked previously as evidence of their ability to perform these tasks, including targeting counterterrorism centers in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” SentinelLabs analysts said.

The leaked data also revealed the fees that hackers could earn, they said, including $55,000 from breaking into a government ministry in Vietnam.

A cached version of the company’s website showed the firm also runs an institute dedicated to “implementing the spirit” of President Xi Jinping’s “important instructions” on developing cybersecurity education and expertise.

The FBI has said that China has the biggest hacking programme of any country.

Beijing has dismissed the claims as “groundless” and pointed to the United States’s own history of cyber espionage.

Pieter Arntz, a researcher at Malwarebytes, said the leak will likely “rattle some cages at the infiltrated entities”.

“As such, it could possibly cause a shift in international diplomacy and expose the holes in the national security of several countries.”

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Beijing on Thursday warned the US that restrictions on its industries would “come back to bite them”, after Washington added a number of Chinese firms to a list of companies linked to its military.

The Pentagon on Wednesday placed several Chinese companies on a list of firms aiding Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army, including Yangtze Memory Technologies, one of China’s biggest chip manufacturers.

The move bars the firms from any future US military contracts, and places them under greater scrutiny as the US seeks to curb Chinese companies’ access to sensitive technology.

Asked about the move, Beijing’s foreign ministry condemned the US for “unreasonably suppressing Chinese firms”.

“These US actions violate principles of market competition and international economic and trade rules,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, warning it would “harm the interests of US firms and investors”.

“This will come back to bite them,” Wang warned.

Wang insisted that “many large US multinational companies are military-civilian fusions”, insisting Beijing “will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its firms”.

Washington’s “List of People’s Republic of China Military Companies”, updated periodically, features a number of prominent Chinese firms, many of whom are already blacklisted by other US government departments — including tech giant Huawei and chipmaker SMIC.

In addition to Yangtze, other prominent companies added Wednesday were US-sanctioned AI firm Megvii and drone-maker Chengdu JOUAV.

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When Astrid Andersson tells people what she does for a living, she is often met with incredulity. “People don’t believe me when I say I’m a cockatoo researcher,” Andersson said on the latest episode of HKFP’s podcast Yum Cha. “But it’s true.”

The postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hong Kong has dedicated her scientific career to investigating the white birds with a bright yellow crest and unforgettable squawk that can be seen – and heard – in many of the parks on Hong Kong Island as the sun rises and sets.

Native to East Timor and a handful of Indonesian islands, with wild landscapes of rugged hills interrupted by thorny thickets of green, yellow-crested cockatoos do not really belong in Hong Kong.

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“It’s a really unusual situation,” Andersson told HKFP, sitting on a bench in the middle of Hong Kong Park, an 80,000-square-metre green enclave in the heart of the city. “We’re here in, like, the most urban and developed and cosmopolitan part of Hong Kong really – [it’s] Admiralty, we’ve got major banks, it’s the CBD, basically – and here is the hot spot, the real home base, for cockatoos in Hong Kong. It’s bizarre.”

The International Union for Conservation of Nature puts the remaining global population of Cacatua sulphurea somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000, making the species critically endangered. About 200 of those live in Hong Kong, according to Andersson’s estimates.

How they came to nest in the cotton trees on Hong Kong Island is the stuff of urban folklore. and something that Andersson tried to get to the bottom of during her PhD.

“The most popular theory is that the governor of Hong Kong, during the Japanese invasion in World War Two, he had a bunch of these cockatoos as pets and when the Japanese were advancing, he released them, and… that was the founder population,” Andersson said.

“But I do think that, even if that’s true, this population is most likely supplemented by continual escapees or released individuals, because when we do we do an annual cockatoo count… I always see a few individuals that I notice are of a slightly different subspecies or… a different species altogether, mixed in.”

Regardless of how these birds became one of the city’s invasive species, how yellow-crested cockatoos arrived in Hong Kong is unambiguous: via the pet trade.

“They actually are a very popular cage bird pet,” Andersson said. “Especially in the 1980s and early 1990s, yellow crested cockatoos… were very popular. There were over 70,000 of them exported from Indonesia at that time… and it’s around then that they started showing up in Hong Kong, as well, in large numbers.”

That industry has been central to their decline.

“In Indonesia, unfortunately, the major pressure has been trapping for the pet trade. So, during the 80s and 90s when it was still perfectly legal to do so, they were trapped rates that were just completely unsustainable, and then, actually, that has continued,” Andersson said.

Internationally, trade in wild-caught yellow-crested cockatoos was banned in 2002, but the sale of captive-bred birds remains legal. And while rigorous protections are in place to protect the native population on Indonesia’s Komodo Island, the Asian Species Action Partnership has noted that “trapping for the pet trade continues with declines noted in almost all other populations.”

Andersson recalled an incident in 2015, when a man was arrested after being found by Indonesian authorities with more than 20 birds stuffed into plastic bottles. “They were illegally trapped,” she said, adding that while “that’s the major threat they face” the birds were also contending with human-led habitat loss and the impacts of the climate crisis.

Another issue, was identifying captive-bred birds from ones that had been illegally captured from the wild. There were methods in place, Andersson said, but during surveys of Hong Kong’s Yuen Po Street Bird Market conducted during her PhD, she found that they did not appear to be routinely applied.

“You’re supposed to see that they have a band on their leg with an ID number,” she said. “But when I was doing the survey, I noticed a few birds didn’t have a band, or they had a band that… you could remove, or it didn’t have a number on. There didn’t seem to be a really consistent standard for these identification and traceability means,” she continued.

“The issue arises when you can’t really tell, say, [whether] a cockatoo has been smuggled from Indonesia in a plastic bottle, and then put in the bird market.”

After completing her PhD in 2021, Andersson turned her focus on the genetic makeup of Hong Kong’s cockatoos, “trying to figure out: are they inbred, are they hybrids or are they… pure subspecies of yellow-crested cockatoos? Are they from a certain island in Indonesia or another one… that sort of thing.”

Her findings could be important not only to help understand the city’s population, but perhaps for the conservation of yellow-crested cockatoos in their native habitats.

“If there was genetic rescue needed in Indonesia, and it was assessed to be safe, and all of the proper procedures that you have to do when you reintroduce birds were followed… it could turn out that Hong Kong has actually provided a reservoir, a genetic reservoir for this critically endangered species,” she said.

Gesturing to the skyscrapers that surround Hong Kong Park, Andersson added: “I don’t know that the bankers working in these towers here in Hong Kong know that when they look out the window while they’re on their conference call and they see these birds flying past, it’s actually a really rare species.”

HKFP Yum Cha

New episodes of HKFP Yum Cha are published on Saturdays. The first season features a diverse range of voices, from artists to scientists, who share their perspective on Hong Kong as it is today through the lens of their industry.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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Seventy-eight hectares – or 0.78 square kilometres – of protected wetland in Hong Kong’s New Territories has been destroyed since the government announced plans for a huge development in the region more than two years ago, green groups say.

According to an analysis of satellite imagery and field studies conducted by The Conservancy Association and Greenpeace, 78.7 hectares of wetlands had been destroyed between July 2021 and December 2023.

The two groups at a press conference on Thursday said a further 587 hectares of wetland was at risk under current development plans.

The Northern Metropolis plan unveiled in July 2021 is intended to provide more than 900,000 homes when completed and generate around 650,000 jobs by integrating development projects in the northern New Territories near the border with mainland China.

The development plan has drawn criticism over its potential impact on wetland conservation and local villagers.

Of particular concern are the wetlands at Hoo Hok Wai, a 320-hectare conservation area where the area of damaged wetlands had doubled to 36.8 hectares over the course of the study, said Kristy Chow, a campaign officer at the Conservancy Association.

Additionally, a total of 27.2 hectares of the Sam Po Shue Wetlands, 12.2 hectares of the Nam Sang Wai wetlands, and 2.5 hectares of the Hong Kong Wetland Park Expansion Area were destroyed. In total, that accounts for just under five per cent of the area of wetland conservation parks surveyed, the association said.

The wetlands were mainly destroyed by large-scale flattening and excavation work, raising or widening embankments, and long-term placement of excavators and containers.

The association also spotted seven dump trucks entering wetland conservation zones in San Tin and said it suspected they were involved in unauthorised dumping.

Comprehensive policy lacking

Chan Hall-sion of Greenpeace said that while the government had issued notices and listed various areas as blackspots, it still lacked comprehensive policies for conservation and brownfield sites and could not rely on enforcement actions alone.

Chow also called attention to the government’s decision last November to decrease the size of the Sam Po Shue reserve from 520 hectares, as laid out in the 2021 Northern Metropolis Development Strategy, to 338 hectares, representing a 35 percent drop.

Chow described the government’s approach to development as “development first, conservation later,” citing the 13-year timeline for the development of the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park, in comparison with the allotted seven years for the San Tin Technopole – a massive Innovation and Technology (I&T) hub in the northern part of Hong Kong.

The two green groups urged the government to speed up the development of the Sam Po Shue conservation park such that its completion coincides with that of the San Tin Technopole, and to redraw the San Tin tech hub’s boundaries to avoid ecologically sensitive areas.

It urged authorities to step up efforts to protect wetland and allocate additional resources and manpower to carry out inspections and prosecutions where necessary, while enforcing strict standards and penalties.

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Hong Kong’s government has announced plans to install 2,000 additional CCTV cameras in public places this year in what it calls a move to fight crime.

Cheuk Wing-hing, deputy chief secretary, said on RTHK on Wednesday that the new batch of surveillance cameras would be installed in densely populated areas or in high-crime locations.

He said that, while people might be concerned about privacy, it was a common practice for cities around the world to install CCTV cameras, and the number in Hong Kong was “relatively low.”

“It will enhance our district governance. For those who committed crimes, could you escape from so many cameras?” Cheuk said, adding that locations of the cameras can be changed any time.

Authorities do not reveal how many surveillance cameras they have already installed in public places. Departments which use them include police, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

In response to HKFP, a Security Bureau spokesperson said the government did not maintain the number of public CCTV cameras in the city.

They said the 2,000 new cameras would only cover public spaces, and the government would consult the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data regarding privacy protections.

“Relevant public data also indicates that installing CCTV cameras in public areas can effectively prevent criminal offences, particularly violent and serious crimes that occur on the streets, by acting as a significant deterrent,” the spokesperson said, adding that video footage could serve as evidence in court.

The bureau did not respond as to which resolution of video cameras would be purchased.

John Lee, the then security chief and now the city’s leader, said in 2020 in response to questions from lawmakers that the government “did not maintain” figures on how many CCTV cameras were installed by different departments.

Lee did not respond on the question of whether some used facial recognition technology.

“Information on CCTV systems involve security matters, disclosing detailed information of the systems may reveal to criminals relevant government departments’ security arrangements, as well as the capabilities and investigatory techniques of law enforcement agencies, ” Lee said, calling it “not appropriate” to disclose the number of surveillance cameras.

Local media outlet HK01 reported in 2019 that as early as 2010, there were 4,925 CCTV cameras installed by the LCSD. As of 2019, the Housing Department had installed 1,340 cameras and the Transport Department had 1,470 cameras.

Cheuk said authorities would install 600 cameras in the city by the end of June and the remaining 1,400 in the second half. He did not reveal the venues or the resolution of the cameras.

HKFP has reached out to the deputy chief secretary for a response.

Most surveilled cities

According to Comparitech, a research company on cyber security and privacy, cities in mainland China have become the most surveilled in the world.

There were 439.07 cameras per 1,000 people in Chinese cities, Comparitech said in a report released in May 2023. It said Hong Kong had 7.09 cameras per 1,000 people, while Tokyo had one camera per 1,000 people.

The company estimated that Hong Kong had 54,500 public surveillance cameras.

Smart lampposts

Hong Kong has also installed 400 “smart lampposts” with sensors, data connectivity and cameras across the city. The initiative raised public concern over surveillance, with protesters destroying some of the first batch during during the 2019 protests and unrest.

The protesters also obscured or destroyed some CCTV cameras in public places, shopping malls and MTR stations.

Authorities have called for more CCTV cameras in the city. Police said in May 2023 that such cameras should be installed in schools to prevent crime as well as in shops.

The judiciary announced in 2022 that CCTV cameras were to be installed in all courtrooms.

Two years ago, the authorities rolled out real name SIM card registration for cell phones, saying the move would prevent scams. Fraud rose by 50 per cent in the first eight months of last year.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday Chinese President Xi Jinping told him he wants the United Nations to be at the centre of talks on AI governance.

Guterres last year set up a panel of experts to make recommendations on how to govern the use of AI, a technology he has warned presents dangers and risks.

There are several initiatives at the international level on how to tackle AI but the UN panel is the largest since the body has 193 member states.

“Xi Jinping told me when we met that he can see that this is something that is very important, that the UN should be at the centre of this process,” Guterres told journalists on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The panel delivered an interim report in December, which recommended five “guiding principles” such as inclusivity, public interest and international law.

Joined by some of the members of the panel in Davos, Guterres insisted on the importance of “a universal and inclusive approach” to AI governance.

“We are extremely concerned by the fact that developing countries until now are particularly ill-prepared in this domain.”

He said he wanted to make sure AI did not become “another instrument to increase the divide and to increase inequality in the world”.

Guterres picked some 40 experts in technology, law and personal data protection — coming from academia, government and the private sector — to sit on the UN panel.

They include Amandeep Singh Gill, Guterres’ special envoy for technology and James Manyika, vice president for technology and society at Google and Alphabet.

Manyika said there was a lot of support from member states for the panel’s work, adding that they wanted to avoid “patchworks” and get a “collective framework” on AI governance.

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Over 70 per cent of Hong Kong students have said they would prefer it if their parents did not post photos and stories of them on social media platforms, with some saying it made them feel embarrassed or even angry, a survey conducted by a youth group has found.

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) interviewed 1,094 primary and secondary students and 793 parents from September to November last year, releasing its findings during a press conference on Sunday.

More than 80 per cent of parents said they had posted about their children on Facebook, Instagram, WeChat or in WhatsApp groups. They mostly shared photos or videos of their children, sometimes with text descriptions.

While most parents acknowledged that sharing such content affected the privacy of their children, nearly 60 per cent said they did not think it would trigger negative emotions in their offspring.

However, 72.2 per cent students reported that they would rather content of them was not shared on social media platforms.

Over 40 per cent of students said they felt “embarrassed” by their parents posting about them online. Moreover, around 28 per cent said it made them feel “annoyed” while some 23 per cent said it made them “angry.”

Phoebe See, coordinating secretary of YMCA, said during the press conference on Sunday that some students had reported in a focus group following the survey that they had been made fun of or even bullied after classmates had seen their parents’ posts.

“Sometimes parents think their child is ‘super cute’ and then post about them online, but it will probably make the kid feel ‘super scared’,” See said in Cantonese. “When the child grows up and finds that every tiny thing about them has been shared online, and things concerning their privacy can be permanently traced online, that must be embarrassing.”

See suggested parents be more sensitive before sharing. “Whenever there is an urge to upload photos of your child, it’s important to first consider what needs of yours are not being fulfilled. Is it a need for validation from others?… Or is the intimacy with your child the most important? ” See said. “The love for your child doesn’t necessarily need to be validated by ‘likes’ or approval from others.”

On the other hand, some students said during focus group that it made them happy when their parents posted about them, because it made them feel “famous” and meant more attention was paid to them.

Children’s consent

The youth group also urged parents to obtain their children’s consent before posting about their progeny online.

Hermina Ng, the commissioner from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, said during the press conference that there was “no button for permanent delete” on the internet.

“Once personal information is made public online, it can potentially be permanently stored, reposted, or even misused by malicious individuals. It can become a tool for cybercriminals or online bullies to exploit and ‘doxx’ individuals, revealing their private details,” Ng said.

Among the students surveyed, nearly 63 per cent said their parents should ask permission before posting about them on social media.

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Chinese authorities may revise newly drafted online gaming rules, state media reported Saturday, a day after the announcement of the planned curbs triggered a sell-off in major tech stocks.

The draft restrictions published by Beijing’s media regulator on Friday sent shares in tech giants tumbling and wiped tens of billions of dollars off their value, with industry leader Tencent tanking more than 12.0 percent in Hong Kong by the close.

“With regard to the concerns and opinions raised by all parties… the State Press and Publication Administration will study them carefully and will further revise and improve them,” state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday.

Regulators may change the wording of sections of the draft rules that limit games’ ability to encourage daily logins and wallet top-ups, CCTV said.

Beijing first moved against the gaming sector in 2021 as part of a sprawling crackdown on Big Tech, including a strict cap on the amount of time children could spend playing online.

An end to a freeze in gaming licences had raised hopes that the focus on the industry had subsided.

But, in their current form, the draft regulations announced Friday are aimed at limiting in-game purchases and preventing obsessive gaming behaviour.

They also reiterate a ban on “forbidden online game content… that endangers national unity” and “endangers national security or harms national reputation and interests”.

Pop-ups warning users of “irrational” playing behaviour would also be introduced.

Since 2021, children under 18 years old have only been allowed to play online between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the school term.

Gamers are required to use their ID cards when registering to play online to ensure minors do not lie about their age.

“The largest risk we see is how this draft indicates that China’s government may want to regulate adult gamers spending on video games, in a similar manner to youth gamers,” Daniel Ahmad, director of research at Niko Partners, told AFP.

“Should future policies mirror these stringent measures, the industry could face substantial negative consequences,” he said.

China is the world’s largest gaming market, and Tencent is the global leader in the sector in terms of revenue.

Friday’s news wiped around US$54 billion off the company’s share value, according to Bloomberg News.

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Every winter, dozens of black-faced spoonbills, an endangered large wading bird species, fly a long way from the freezing north to enjoy a warm winter in Hong Kong.

According to the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society (HKBWS), there were 78 black-faced spoonbills in the fishpond wetlands of San Tin in early 2023, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the total population in the city. Currently, there are around 6,000 black-faced spoonbills in the world.

However, the migratory birds might not be able to find their winter habitat next year. San Tin, an area in the northwest of Hong Kong near the border with mainland China, will soon be redeveloped into a large-scale “technopole” – part of authorities’ ambition to build Hong Kong’s Silicon Valley.

The proposed San Tin Technopole, which covers 627 hectares,  including some 300 hectares for tech purposes and more than 50,000 homes. Adjacent to the mainland Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen, the area is also supposed to create synergy with the city across the border.

According to the government, the reclamation of land will begin as early as the fourth quarter of 2024.

When the concept was first raised, it covered a development area of 175 hectares and no wetland.

It was not until May 2023 that authorities revealed the tech hub had been enlarged to over 600 hectares, resulting in the damage of 248 hectares of wetland conservation area and buffer zones.

According to HKBWS records, those wetlands, which exist as fishponds, grassland and peatland, are home to 205 bird species, including 19 that are globally endangered, such as the black-faced spoonbills.

Animals protected on a national level have also been seen there, including the Eastern imperial eagle, the greater spotted eagle and Cinereous vulture.

According to a study by the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are at least seven Eurasian otters in Hong Kong. The endangered species lives in wetlands in the northwest side of Hong Kong, which includes San Tin.

“This development neglects not only ecology, but also the fishpond operators who have been managing the San Tin fishponds for the past half century,” Yu Yat-Tung, director of HKBWS, said during a media tour of the Sin Tin wetlands last Tuesday.

Lam Chiu-Ying, former director of the Hong Kong Observatory and honorary president of HKBWS, said during the tour that the proposed development plan contradicted China’s policy of “ecological civilization” and “high-quality development.”

Lam told reporters that the government’s plan would expose Hong Kong to higher risks of multiple flooding incidents in the future, as wetlands worked as natural reservoirs, reserving waters during flooding.

In June, nine environmental concern groups issued a joint statement condemning the authorities’ plan for Sin Tin, saying it would damage the vast wetlands. The groups include HKBWS, WWF, Greenpeace, Green Power, the Conservancy Association, Green Earth, Greeners Action, Green Sense, and Designing Hong Kong.

They also criticised the government for not submitting the updated the project profile of the San Tin development plan to the Environmental Protection Department when it applied for an environmental impact assessment in May 2021.

The government launched a public consultation on the San Tin Technopole in June. The consultation lasted for two months. There was no public forum for debate, only exhibitions in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Additional reporting: Irene Chan

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By Matthew Walsh

At a quiet cemetery in eastern China, bereaved father Seakoo Wu pulls out his phone, places it on a gravestone and plays a recording of his son.

They are words that the late student never spoke, but brought into being with artificial intelligence.

“I know you’re in great pain every day because of me, and feel guilty and helpless,” intones Xuanmo in a slightly robotic voice.

“Even though I can’t be by your side ever again, my soul is still in this world, accompanying you through life.”

Stricken by grief, Wu and his wife have joined a growing number of Chinese people turning to AI technology to create lifelike avatars of their departed.

Ultimately Wu wants to build a fully realistic replica that behaves just like his dead son but dwells in virtual reality.

“Once we synchronise reality and the metaverse, I’ll have my son with me again,” Wu said.

“I can train him… so that when he sees me, he knows I’m his father.”

Some Chinese firms claim to have created thousands of “digital people” from as little as 30 seconds of audiovisual material of the deceased.

Experts say they can offer much-needed comfort for people devastated by the loss of loved ones.

But they also evoke an unsettling theme from the British sci-fi series “Black Mirror” in which people rely on advanced AI for bereavement support.

‘Needs are growing’

Wu and his wife were devastated when Xuanmo, their only child, died of a sudden stroke last year at the age of 22 while attending Exeter University in Britain.

The accounting and finance student, keen sportsman and posthumous organ donor “had such a rich and varied life”, said Wu.

“He always carried in him this desire to help people and a sense of right and wrong,” he told AFP.

Following a boom in deep learning technologies like ChatGPT in China, Wu began researching ways to resurrect him.

He gathered photos, videos and audio recordings of his son, and spent thousands of dollars hiring AI firms that cloned Xuanmo’s face and voice.

The results so far are rudimentary, but he has also set up a work team to create a database containing vast amounts of information on his son.

Wu hopes to feed it into powerful algorithms to create an avatar capable of copying his son’s thinking and speech patterns with extreme precision.

Several companies specialising in so-called “ghost bots” have emerged in the United States in recent years.

But the industry is booming in China, according to Zhang Zewei, the founder of the AI firm Super Brain and a former collaborator with Wu.

“On AI technology, China is in the highest class worldwide,” said Zhang from a workspace in the eastern city of Jingjiang.

“And there are so many people in China, many with emotional needs, which gives us an advantage when it comes to market demand.”

Super Brain charges between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan (US$1,400-US$2,800) to create a basic avatar within about 20 days, said Zhang.

They range from those who have died to living parents unable to spend time with their children and — controversially — a heartbroken woman’s ex-boyfriend.

Clients can even hold video calls with a staff member whose face and voice are digitally overlaid with those of the person they have lost.

“The significance for… the whole world is huge,” Zhang said.

“A digital version of someone (can) exist forever, even after their body has been lost.”

‘New humanism’

Sima Huapeng, who founded Nanjing-based Silicon Intelligence, said the technology would “bring about a new kind of humanism”.

He likened it to portraiture and photography, which helped people commemorate the dead in revolutionary ways.

Tal Morse, a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at Britain’s University of Bath, said ghost bots may offer comfort.

But he cautioned that more research was needed to understand their psychological and ethical implications.

“A key question here is… how ‘loyal’ are the ghost bots to the personality they were designed to mimic,” Morse told AFP.

“What happens if they do things that will ‘contaminate’ the memory of the person they are supposed to represent?”

Another quandary arises from the inability of dead people to consent, experts said.

While permission was probably unnecessary to mimic speech or behaviour, it might be needed to “do certain other things with that simulacrum”, said Nate Sharadin, a philosopher at the University of Hong Kong specialising in AI and its social effects.

For Super Brain’s Zhang, all new technology is “a double-edged sword”.

“As long as we’re helping those who need it, I see no problem”.

He doesn’t work with those for whom it could have negative impacts, he said, citing a woman who had attempted suicide after her daughter’s death.

Bereaved father Wu said Xuanmo “probably would have been willing” to be digitally revived.

“One day, son, we will all reunite in the metaverse,” he said as his wife dissolved into tears before his grave.

“The technology is getting better every day… it’s just a matter of time.”

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China’s new domestically produced passenger jet made its debut outside the mainland on Wednesday, with international media in Hong Kong getting their first up-close look.

The C919 made its maiden commercial flight in May and is key to Beijing’s decades-long ambitions to compete with European and US rivals in the air and cut down China’s reliance on foreign technology.

Chinese authorities hope the sleek, narrow-body aircraft — built by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) — will challenge foreign models like the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320.

Now on display at Hong Kong International Airport, the C919 will fly over the city’s Victoria Harbour on Saturday.

Hong Kong leader John Lee on Wednesday hailed the development of the C919 and the ARJ21 — a smaller, earlier model made by COMAC — as “important milestones” in China’s aviation sector.

“China’s successful development of a large passenger jet symbolises its leading position in the transportation manufacturing industry,” Lee said at a ceremony at the airport.

The C919 has received 1,061 orders from more than 30 clients as of this week, officials said in a statement.

China has invested heavily in the homegrown jetliner as it seeks to become self-sufficient in key technologies, but many of the C919’s parts are sourced from overseas.

The jet received official certification to fly last year after more than a decade in development but has yet to secure any international buyers.

More than 60,000 passengers have been transported by two C919 jets that operate the route linking Chinese cities Shanghai and Chengdu, officials said.

Reporters and guests were invited to tour the plane on Wednesday, with the following two days reserved for visits from local community representatives.

The C919, which landed in the city on Tuesday, will fly around Hong Kong Island twice Saturday morning if weather permits, the government added.

Officials on Wednesday touted the jet’s “advanced aerodynamic design, state-of-the-art propulsion system and advanced materials” that they said lead to lower emissions and better fuel efficiency.

The C919 can be configured to have between 158 and 192 seats and has a maximum range of 5,555 kilometres, they added.

Asia and China in particular are key targets for European manufacturer Airbus and its American rival Boeing, which are looking to capitalise on growing demand for air travel from the country’s vast middle class.

Airbus earlier this year announced plans to double its production capacity in China, signing a deal to build a second final assembly line for the A320 in Tianjin.

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China’s first domestically produced large passenger jet will conduct a flyby over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour next week as part of the aircraft’s first showcase outside the mainland.

The C919 made its maiden commercial flight in May and is key to Beijing’s decades-long ambitions to compete with Western rivals in the air and cut down China’s reliance on foreign technology.

The jet, manufactured by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), also will be displayed at the Hong Kong International Airport from December 12 to 17, city leader John Lee announced on Tuesday.

“On December 16, the C919 will conduct a flyby above the Victoria Harbour. The public can together witness the first time the C919 soars above Hong Kong,” Lee said in his weekly meeting with reporters.

Beijing “chose Hong Kong to be the first city for the C919 to visit outside the mainland”, he added.

COMAC’s smaller, older ARJ21 jet will also be exhibited in Hong Kong during the six-day period.

China has invested heavily in production of the homegrown C919 jetliner as it seeks to become self-sufficient in key technologies.

Beijing hopes the single-aisle C919 will challenge foreign models like the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A320, though many of its parts are sourced from abroad.

The jet first started development in 2008 but only received official certification to fly last year.

The C919 has yet to secure an international customer, while the ARJ21 is operated in China and Indonesia, Bloomberg News reported.

COMAC’s deputy general manager Zhang Yujin told state media in January that the company had taken around 1,200 orders for the C919.

COMAC planned to increase annual production capacity to 150 models within five years, Zhang said at the time.

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Hong Kong’s public hospital operator has ordered a contractor to conduct a full investigation after it was revealed that the coating used in cable trunking at a hospital redevelopment project did not meet the contract’s specification standards. It marks the latest controversy amid a string of safety incidents at local medical facilities.

In a statement issued Thursday evening, the Hospital Authority said an independent expert had conducted tests at Kwong Wah Hospital, and confirmed that the thickness of the cable trunking coating material was below the standard 20 micrometres, and that it weighed less than the standard 275 grams per square metre.

“The independent expert confirmed that the thickness and weight of the cable trunking coating are substandard and do not meet the standards stipulated in the project contract,” said Andrew Wong, the authority’s Chief Manager of Capital Planning.

The authority has now instructed the contractor to conduct a detailed investigation including the reasons for the violation, and to reinstall the trunking while bearing the additional costs.

That came after the city’s health minister Lo Chung-mau said this month that the authorities would conduct a probe into the substandard coatings.

The statement did not mention how far below standard the cable trunkings were. Local media outlet HK01 earlier this month conducted 150 tests and found that the zinc coatings on the trunking ranged from 0 to 5.8 micrometres.

‘No safety risks’

Wong also said the apparent mishap did “not pose additional safety risks to the safety of patients and staff nor impact on the building’s structure, fire safety and hospital operations” as the coating for the metal routing installations are used to prevent rusting.

He also said cable trunking was mainly installed in sealed maintenance ducts or roof ceilings that cannot be accessed by patients or the public.

The Architectural Services Department also released a statement on the incident, also saying that insufficient coating thickness poses “no risk of electrical leakage.”

On Friday morning, electrical engineer Ho Wing-ip told Commercial Radio that the coating issue would not pose immediate risks, but fully replacing the trunking would be challenging. He recommended painting over the existing trunking.

The department will be following up on 148 ongoing contracts involving cable trunking, a spokesman for the department said, with the first batch of tests involving 38 contracts expected to be completed in three to four weeks.

“If any non-compliance … is found after testing, we will require the contractor of the relevant works contract to give explanations and make appropriate arrangements in accordance with contract terms,” the statement read.

According to the statement, the department will impose specific requirements for documentary proof on cable trunking coating, including the manufacturer’s certificate of accreditation. Up until the department’s announcement on Thursday, specifications for cable trunking coating were not required, as they were not considered to be a “major building component.”

Both the department and the Hospital Authority said any suspected criminal elements revealed in investigations will be referred to law enforcement authorities.

String of incidents

In mid-February, a surgical light attached to the ceiling came loose in an operating theatre at United Christian Hospital, injuring a staff member. Investigation showed that screws in the “main post of the concerned surgical light” were “all broken,” the Hospital Authority said.

In March, the Hospital Authority apologised after slabs of concrete fell from the ceiling of a consultation room in Kwai Chung Hospital.

Days earlier, authorities said a ceiling hoist used to lift patients in a rehabilitation ward at Tuen Mun Hospital had fallen. There were no injuries.

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Hong Kong hopes to bring US companies to the city and broaden its “network of friends,” finance minister Paul Chan has said during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.

Escalating geopolitical tensions, high interest rates, and macroeconomic uncertainties had given rise to decreased risk appetite and cautious investment attitudes, Chan, who left for the US on Saturday, wrote in a Chinese-language blog post on Sunday.

“Faced with complex and uncertain future prospects, it is crucial for major economies to engage in more dialogue and exchanges, enhance understanding, manage differences, promote cooperation, and seek joint solutions for stability and economic development,” he said.

The finance chief said he had three objectives at the APEC forum: to demonstrate new opportunities in finance and tech in Hong Kong, to make “new friends” in the international community, and to introduce American companies to Hong Kong.

“We hope to introduce new opportunities in finance and innovative technology development in Hong Kong to government and business leaders from various economies,” he wrote. “We also aim to gain a better understanding of the development situations, strategies, and global economic changes and prospects of different economies.”

‘Making friends’

Chan said he intended to “expand Hong Kong’s network of friends” and establish a stronger foundation for cooperation.

“Making friends and fostering exchanges will help the international community better understand Hong Kong’s new advantages and potential as we enter a new stage ‘from stability to prosperity’,” he said.

“Thirdly, I plan to visit local businesses and meet with representatives from the business community to introduce Hong Kong’s excellent business environment, particularly in promoting finance, innovation and technology,” he continued.

Hong Kong has announced talent policies and incentives for firms to set up in the city, following an outflow of expats and foreign companies amid strict Covid-19 restrictions from and following the enforcement of a national security law in June 2020.

Last month, Chan said 30 “strategic enterprises” have been drawn to the city, nearly 80 per cent of which came from mainland China.

Hong Kong’s innovation chief has brushed aside fears that strained relations between China and the US would spill over into Hong Kong’s tech sector.

Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said earlier that a US executive order to prohibit or restrict US investment in certain sensitive high tech sectors in China would have a “relatively limited” impact on Hong Kong’s tech development.

Chan on Sunday evening posed for a photograph with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who at the APEC forum said China and the US need “healthy economic relations” following meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Speaking to reporters last week, Chan said he would not be meeting US politicians in San Francisco.

Chan’s attendance at the summit comes after the Hong Kong government confirmed earlier this month that Chief Executive John Lee had received a personal invitation but would not attend the summit over “scheduling issues.” Lee is among several Hong Kong and Chinese officials to have been hit by US sanctions over their crackdown on the 2019 protests and unrest in Hong Kong.

The US Department of State did not give HKFP a straight answer as to whether Lee had received a personal invite, despite reports the US had sought to bar him.

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By James Pheby

Countries including the UK, United States and China on Wednesday agreed the “need for international action” as political and tech leaders gathered for the world’s first summit on artificial intelligence (AI) safety.

The UK government kicked off the two-day event at Bletchley Park, north of London, by publishing the “Bletchley Declaration” signed by 28 countries and the European Union.

In it, they agreed on “the urgent need to understand and collectively manage potential risks through a new joint global effort to ensure AI is developed and deployed in a safe, responsible way for the benefit of the global community”.

Sunak called the declaration a “landmark achievement” while King Charles III, in a video message to the summit, urged international collaboration to combat the “significant risks” of unchecked development.

“There is a clear imperative to ensure that this rapidly evolving technology remains safe and secure,” he said.

UK technology minister Michelle Donelan told AFP that the declaration “really outlines for the first time the world coming together to identify this problem”.

The announcement came shortly after the UK and United States both said they were setting up their own institutes to assess and mitigate the risks of the fast-emerging technology.

The release of the latest models have offered a glimpse into the potential of so-called frontier AI, but have also prompted concerns around issues ranging from job losses to cyber attacks and the control that humans actually have over the systems.

‘Timely’

The conference at Bletchley Park, where top British codebreakers cracked Nazi Germany’s “Enigma” code, focuses on frontier AI.

Donelan told AFP the event was a “historic moment in mankind’s history” after earlier announcing two further summits, in South Korea in six months’ time, and in France next year.

But London has reportedly had to scale back its ambitions around ideas such as launching a new regulatory body amid a perceived lack of enthusiasm.

Donelan accepted that the summit “isn’t designed to produce a blueprint for global legislation”, but was instead “designed to forge a path ahead,… so that we can get a better handle and understanding on the risk of frontier AI”.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was one of the only world leaders attending the conference, although tech giant Elon Musk was already present on the first day, and will talk with Sunak on Thursday.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO told the domestic Press Association news agency that the event was “timely”.

“It’s one of the existential risks that we face and it is potentially the most pressing one if you look at the timescale and rate of advancement — the summit is timely, and I applaud the prime minister for holding it,” he said.

‘Talking shop’

While the potential of AI raises many hopes, particularly for medicine, its development is seen as largely unchecked.

US Vice President Kamala Harris urged in a speech in London on Wednesday that “we seize this moment” and “work together to build a future where AI creates opportunity and advances equity” while protecting rights.

She will attend the summit on Thursday, but lawyer and investigator Cori Crider, a campaigner for “fair” technology, warned that the event could be “a bit of a talking shop.

“If he were serious about safety, Rishi Sunak needed to roll deep and bring all of the UK majors and regulators in tow and he hasn’t,” she told a San Francisco news conference.

Ahead of the meeting, the G7 powers agreed on Monday on a non-binding “code of conduct” for companies developing the most advanced AI systems.

In Rome, ministers from Italy, Germany and France called for an “innovation-friendly approach” to regulating AI in Europe, as they urged more investment to challenge the United States and China.

China was also due to be present, but it was unclear at what level.

News website Politico reported that London had invited President Xi Jinping to signify its eagerness for a senior representative.

The invitation has raised eyebrows amid heightened tensions between China and Western nations and accusations of technological espionage.

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A US policy designed to restrict investment in Chinese technology would have “relatively limited” impact on Hong Kong’s innovation and technology development, the city’s technology chief said on Wednesday.

In a written reply to lawmakers on Wednesday, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong commented on an executive order signed by US President Joe Biden in August to prohibit or restrict US investment in certain sensitive high tech sectors in China. The move came amid growing tensions between the two nations over the global supply chain of advanced technologies.

The order – which targets semiconductors, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence – also covers Hong Kong and Macau.

Sun said the city’s IT sector had a “diversified” strategy to attract investment, talent, and enterprises from different regions, and did not typically rely on a single market for materials or to launch a product.

“Impact of any unilateral policies implemented by individual country… is relatively limited,” he said.

Sun’s remarks came after the government expressed “strong objections and disapprovals” to the order soon after it was signed in August, calling the restrictions “unreasonable” and urging the US to lift them.

National integration

Sun on Wednesday also said the government had worked to integrate into Beijing’s plans for technological development.

In another written response to lawmaker Martin Liao, Sun said the government had been working with Shenzhen, a mainland Chinese city across the border, to develop a “co-operation zone” for the IT sector.

In August, the Chinese government announced its Development Plan for Shenzhen Park of Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone. Last week, Chief Executive John Lee said in his second Policy Address that the planning of the Northern Metropolis – a major development plan spanning much of northern Hong Kong near the city’s border – would align with the Hetao Co-operation Zone.

The Northern Metropolis, a holdover policy from previous leader Carrie Lam which stresses the integration between Hong Kong with Shenzhen, has come under criticism over alleged misallocation of land resources and causing environmental harm to biodiverse wetland areas.

Sun said on Wednesday that as of September, 18 local enterprises and research and development institutions had moved into the Shenzhen side of the zone, specialising in areas such as microelectronics, medical technology, big data and artificial intelligence.

He added that the government had set up various funding schemes to assist local IT enterprises, including a new HK$10 billion fund that promotes “new industrialisation.”

Under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme, enterprises in fields including life and health technologies, AI, advanced manufacturing, and new energy technologies would be supported to set up new production facilities, according to last week’s Policy Address.

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Ottawa, Canada

Canada on Monday banned popular Chinese messaging app WeChat and Russian platform Kaspersky from government smartphones and other mobile devices, citing privacy and security risks.

The suite of applications would be immediately removed from government-issued devices and users will be blocked from downloading them in the future, said a statement.

Treasury Board President Anita Anand, who overseas Canada’s federal public service, said the nation’s chief information officer determined the apps “present an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”

No breaches have been detected but the platforms’ data collection methods on mobile devices, she added, “provide considerable access to the device’s contents.”

“The decision to remove and block the WeChat and the Kaspersky applications was made to ensure that government of Canada networks and data remain secure and protected and are in line with the approach of our international partners,” Anand concluded.

The move comes after Ottawa in February also banned TikTok — a platform owned by ByteDance in China — on government devices.

Oracle last year was tapped to store all TikTok data from US users after President Joe Biden revoked his predecessor Donald Trump’s executive orders seeking to ban TikTok and WeChat from US markets on national security concerns.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing — already strained over tit-for-tat detentions of a Huawei senior executive and two Canadian nationals in December 2018 — hit a new low earlier this year.

Ottawa accused Beijing of meddling in Canadian elections and the attempted intimidation of MPs that led to the expulsion of a Chinese diplomat in May.

Last week, the Canadian government warned of a “Spamouflage” disinformation campaign linked to China that used waves of online posts and deepfake videos manipulated to try to disparage and discredit Canadian lawmakers, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A public inquiry into foreign interference accusations — which China has rejected — kicked off in September.

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Jiuquan, China

China sent a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday, in the latest mission for a growing space programme that plans to send people to the moon by 2030.

The Shenzhou-17 blasted off from the Jiuquan launch site in arid northwest China at 11:14 am (0314 GMT), carrying a three-astronaut team with the youngest average age since the space station’s construction.

A send-off ceremony on Thursday morning saw the space travellers bid farewell to observers before heading off to prepare for the rocket launch.

“The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China,” China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

Captaining the team is Tang Hongbo, who is on his first return mission to the space station.

Accompanying him are Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, both in their thirties and each making maiden space voyages.

The all-male crew has an average age of 38, compared to 42 for the crew of Shenzhou-16 when it launched.

Members of the previous Shenzhou-16 crew — aboard Tiangong for nearly five months now — are currently preparing to receive the trio before returning to Earth next week.

Tiangong, the crown jewel of Beijing’s space programme, is constantly crewed by rotating teams of three astronauts.

Plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive under President Xi Jinping.

The world’s second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its military-run space programme in an effort to catch up with the United States and Russia.

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A documentary about pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai remains on YouTube despite a request from Hong Kong police to take it down, a transparency report published by US tech giant Google has revealed.

“In April 2023, we received a request from the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) to remove 5 videos featuring ‘The Hong Konger’, a documentary about an imprisoned activist from YouTube,” Google’s report read. “The HKPF alleged that the content was seditious in nature and violative of Crimes Ordinance, Cap. 200 and would amount to criminal contempt of Court as the activist’s trial was ongoing.”

The outcome of the request, according to Google was: “We did not remove the 5 videos from YouTube.”

Since being uploaded to Google’s video sharing site by American research organisation Acton Institute on April 19, the English-language version of the free-to-view feature-length documentary has amassed 2.8 million views. The film is also available in Portuguese and Spanish, and with Traditional and Simplified Chinese subtitles.

Lai, 75, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, has been detained since December 2020. Last December, he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for fraud after he was found to have breached the terms of lease of the newspaper’s headquarters.

He has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the national security law, and one offence linked to allegedly seditious publications, with the high-profile trial set to get underway on December 18, after over a year’s delay. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Apple Daily was forced to close down in June 2021 after its newsroom was raided, senior executives and editorial staff arrested, and assets frozen, ringing alarms for press freedom in Hong Kong. Months later, independent outlet Stand News went the same way, with two of its top editors later standing trial for sedition.

The verdict in that case is expected next month.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.

Hong Kong’s press freedom rankings have plummeted since the security law was introduced, falling from 80th position on a global index in 2020 to 140th this year.

‘Glory to Hong Kong’ removal requests

Hong Kong police also asked for two videos that showed the unofficial 2019 protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong being mistaken for Chinese national anthem the March of the Volunteers at international sporting events to be taken down from YouTube.

“The HKPF alleged that the content was part of a conspiracy to insult the national anthem,” Google wrote, adding that it did not remove the videos in question.

In July, the court dismissed a government injunction that sought to ban the “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing [Glory to Hong Kong],” including on the internet, with a secessionist or seditious intent, or with the intent to violate the national anthem law.

The government has been granted to right to challenge that decision, and the appeal will be heard on December 19, the day after Lai’s trial resumes.

See also: Why, and how, the gov’t wants to ban protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’

If the government is successful, the injunction may prove to be existential for Google’s presence in Hong Kong, with industry insiders suggesting it may be difficult for such companies to continue operating in the city amid such restraints.

Last December, security chief Chris Tang said Google had refused to alter the results of its searches that saw Glory to Hong Kong appear before March of the Volunteers when “Hong Kong national anthem” was searched for. Tang said the tech giant had “hurt the feelings of Hong Kong people.”

Speaking to HKFP about Google’s future in the city ahead of the initial injunction verdict, data scientist Wong Ho-wa said: “If they do not plan to obey [if the ban passes], then we will have to see how the government responds,” Wong said.

Gov’t requests increase

The removal requests for The Hong Konger and the Glory to Hong Kong videos were among 164 items requested for removal from January to June, most of which came from the police. Thirty-six of those items were identified as “web search” pages from Google, as well as 35 items from YouTube and 30 from Google sites.

Google has published transparency reports since 2011, revealing government requests around the world. Since 2019, requests from the Hong Kong government rose rapidly, from 57 items in 2019, 122 in 2020 to 330 last year.

Police are now the main source of requests, accounting for almost 71 per cent of requests received in 2022.

Previously, Google revealed details of three occasions where it complied with requests from Hong Kong police to remove content from its platforms during the first half of 2021, including cases involving a Gmail account, a Google Drive account and a Blogger account.

According to Facebook’s Transparency Report, Meta received 201 legal requests from Hong Kong between July and December 2020. The company complied with none of the requests.

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Hongkong Post has become the latest local entity to suffer a data security breach, with 7,249 registered email addresses exposed.

According to a Secretariat Press Office statement on Friday, the incident “involved an unauthorised party making countless attempts, through Hongkong Post’s electronic service function, to test and try to guess the registered email addresses of Hongkong Post’s account holders.”

Transactions, login names and passwords were not revealed, they added. Hongkong Post wrote to all account holders on the same day, called the police and sought advice from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.

Sphero – a Hong Kong manufacturer of programmable robots and educational tools – reportedly suffered an apparent security breach last week but did not inform the privacy watchdog. It declined to comment when approached by HKFP.

Late last month, Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog fell victim to hackers, just two weeks after it emerged that Cyberport tech hub suffered a data leak.

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Sphero – a Hong Kong manufacturer of programmable robots and educational tools – has suffered an apparent security breach exposing the personal data of a million educators and students.

On Monday, antivirus review website SafetyDetectives reported that sensitive data, appearing to belong to Sphero users, had been stolen and published online. However, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) told HKFP that it has not received any report from the firm.

When HKFP asked Sphero whether they had informed users of the breach, and why they failed to inform the authorities, a spokesperson on Thursday refused to comment.

Sphero creates kits and robots for coding, science, music, and art classes.

‘Multiple vulnerabilities’

“The hacker supposedly found and exploited multiple vulnerabilities in Sphero’s security infrastructure, allowing them to steal sensitive data and personally identifiable information,” the SafetyDetectives cybersecurity report said, referring to an online darknet post. “In subsequent postings, the attacker added that more bugs were identified in the backend of Sphero’s systems. The security lapse enabled the hacker to conduct a massive account takeover.”

The “darknet” refers to a version of the internet with restricted access, sometimes used for illegal activity owing to its privacy benefits. The darknet forum post included user information such as full names, emails, birthdays, profile photo URLs, job roles, location and bios.

The PCPD told HKFP on Thursday that they will contact Sphero “to ascertain if the company has any operation in Hong Kong and if any data subjects in Hong Kong are affected.”

The firm lists a Kwai Fong property as its international office, alongside a US warehouse.

SafetyDetectives warned that the leaked data could be used for scams or identity theft: “In line with its responsible disclosure principles, the SafetyDetectives team reached out to Sphero to report the potential breach and got in touch with an official representative. They requested to view the forum post, potentially to confirm the veracity of the leak. We shared the link to the post with Sphero and are awaiting further response.”

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Beijing, China

Chinese internet giant Baidu unveiled the newest version of its AI chatbot ERNIE on Tuesday, claiming it rivals the capabilities of OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT.

Baidu led Chinese tech firms in rolling out generative artificial intelligence apps, which are trained on vast amounts of data and interactions with users to answer questions, even complex ones, in human-like language.

Released to the public in August, ERNIE marked a major step for China’s tech sector, which is aiming to compete with the likes of Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI while staying within strict government controls.

Robin Li, Baidu’s founder and CEO, said during a presentation that ERNIE’s “comprehension, creation, logic, and memory… are in no way inferior to those of GPT-4”, referring to OpenAI’s latest model.

AFP was unable to independently verify the claim.

Li then grilled ERNIE with a series of puzzles, and asked it to write the outline for a martial arts novel.

The bot set to work, gradually creating new characters as the audience followed the composition in real time on a giant screen.

The latest version of ERNIE is currently open to select developers and not available to the public.

Chinese tech firms have ramped up investments in the technology after the success of ChatGPT sparked a global AI gold rush.

The internet is tightly controlled in China, however, and ahead of the rollout of domestic chatbots such as ERNIE, the government published guidelines on the development and use of generative AI.

Content generated by this tech must “reflect core socialist values and must not contain (elements relating to) the subversion of state power”, according to regulations.

These controls prevent ERNIE from answering any questions on subjects considered sensitive by Chinese authorities, such as the country’s leadership or its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

When tested by AFP in August, ERNIE would ask to “change the topic” when queried on Tiananmen and Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China considers its territory.

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Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has fallen victim to hackers and has warned the public of a suspected data breach, just two weeks after it emerged that Cyberport tech hub suffered a data leak.

The Consumer Council said on Friday that a cyberattack against its computer system had been identified on Wednesday, causing damage to about 80 per cent of their systems and disruption to their hotline services and price comparison tools. Whether a personal data breach was involved, and the scope of the data leak, remains to be confirmed.

Sensitive data including the HKID numbers of current and former staff, and their family members, and credit card information for around 8,000 subscribers of the council’s monthly CHOICE magazine, are potentially at risk, the council said at a Friday press briefing. Job applicants may also be victims, they added.

The case has been referred to the police and reported to the Privacy Commissioner’s Office, a statutory body that ensures the protection of personal data. The Office said on Thursday that it was looking into the incident, as it appealed to possibly affected individuals to remain vigilant against the theft of their data.

Suspected data breach

The cyberattack likely occurred on Tuesday night and lasted some seven hours, during which “a data transfer volume of 65GB higher than usual was observed,” chairperson Clement Chan told reporters in English at the Friday press event.

The council was not able to determine the scope of the data leak. It urged possibly affected individuals to be extra cautious about potential scams and take precautionary measures to ensure cybersecurity.

A ransomware note claimed to have obtained employee and client data during the attack, Chan said. It had demanded US$500,000 (HK$3.9 million) be paid by Saturday night, and up to US$700,000 (HK$5.5 million) if the deadline was not met.

“The council strongly condemns the unlawful cyber activity of hackers, and will not succumb to ransomware extortion,” Chan said, adding that the watchdog will support police investigations and expresses apologies to the public.

Police were not able to immediately respond to HKFP about the scope of the incident.

String of cyberattack

The leak came just two weeks after Cyberport revealed news of a data breach in August that led to sensitive personal information of staff being uploaded to the “dark web.”

The hack was disclosed to the public on September 6, nearly three weeks after Cyberport notified Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog, AFP reported.

In response, Hong Kong’s technology minister Sun Dong ordered all of its departments to step up digital security and urged public organisations to review their existing cybersecurity measures, RTHK reported.

When asked by reporters on Friday morning, Gilly Wong, chief executive of the Consumer Council, said in Cantonese they had recently reviewed their cybersecurity measures in light of the Cyberport leak, and had constantly conducted “security risk and audits” to protect computer systems.

“But it is quite hard to have a 100 per cent bulletproof system that is safe from any attack,” Wong said in Cantonese, calling the incident “hard to guard against.”

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Sensitive data, including employee details and credit card records, from a Hong Kong technology park that describes itself as a “digital technology flagship” have been leaked online, the company said.

Cyberport said in a statement released on Tuesday it had been the victim of a “malicious intrusion” in mid-August and found information related to the hack “on the dark web”.

The data included “names and contact details of individuals, human-resources related data of employees, ex-employees and job applicants, and a small number of credit card records”, it said.

Operating since 2004, Cyberport described itself as a “digital technology flagship and incubator for entrepreneurship” and said it has more than 800 start-ups and technology firms at its site in southern Hong Kong island.

The hack was not disclosed until September 6, nearly three weeks after Cyberport notified Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog, leading lawmakers and experts to question the delay.

“We decided not to disclose the incident externally to avoid any unnecessary concern,” it said, adding that it did not initially know the extent of the damage.

“As the victim of a malicious intrusion, Cyberport condemns all form of cybercrime and will fully cooperate with law enforcement.”

The hack has been linked to ransomware Trigona after a website bearing its logo posted 438 gigabytes of Cyberport files.

A spreadsheet seen by AFP listed the birthdays, addresses, ID card numbers, salaries and computer passwords of 166 current and former employees, including six executives.

Other files included information about company finances, business plans, government dealings and legal correspondence.

Hong Kong’s technology minister Sun Dong said on Wednesday the government was “highly concerned” about the breach and has ordered all its departments to step up digital security.

Hong Kong police said they were investigating, as was the city’s privacy watchdog.

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The record-high rainfall and serious flooding that hit Hong Kong on Thursday night were a reminder that “climate change is really here,” former Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying has said, as he called on the government to enhance the city’s resilience in face of natural disasters.

The torrential rain, which brought severe flooding and landslides to multiple districts across Hong Kong would have been “unimaginable” half a century ago, retired meteorologist Lam told HKFP on Friday after the city was largely paralysed by the extreme weather event.

Images of people struggling to make their way along submerged streets and through flooded MTR stations and shopping centres circulated widely online in the early hours of Friday, shortly after the Hong Kong Observatory issued the first Black rainstorm signal of the year at 11 pm on Thursday. At least two people died during the rainstorm, one of which was being treated as a suicide, and 115 others were injured as a result of the downpour.

An hourly rainfall of 158.1 millimetres was recorded in the hour after the Black rain warning was hoisted, the highest since records began in 1884. It was 12.6 mm more than the 145.5 mm in 2008, the previous record.

“The flood reminds us that climate change is really here,” Lam, who led the Hong Kong Observatory between 2003 and 2009, said in a Cantonese phone interview with HKFP.

Extreme weather scientist Professor Chu Jung-eun of the City University of Hong Kong told HKFP on Friday that the heavy downpours were a result of the meeting of air movements steered by powerful typhoons Saola and Haikui.

The Observatory issued the top-level Hurricane Signal No. 10 last Friday as Saola hit Hong Kong as a super typhoon, bringing serious flooding, fallen trees and blown out solar panels. Chu said while the tropical cyclone moved away from the city, it still had indirect effects on the city by a southwesterly monsoon flow.

The air movements formed by the two typhoons met in Hong Kong on Thursday evening and resulted in very strong and heavy localised precipitation, the CityU scientist said. Both typhoons also showed rapid intensification, she added, meaning their intensity increased more than 50 km per hour within 24 hours.

Chu said based on the climate simulations she conducted and consensus shared by academics in the field, typhoons are expected to become stronger with heavier precipitation under the effects of climate change.

“Climate change will definitely influence the intensity of typhoons,” she said, adding that typhoons also received more energy from warmer oceans as a result of the El Niño effect, which is a natural phenomenon that raises the sea surface temperature regardless of human activities.

Professor Jed Kaplan of the University of Calgary, Canada told HKFP on Friday that the world has seen record-high ocean surface temperatures, including in the northern portion of the South China Sea offshore of Hong Kong. Such warm ocean temperatures led to more humidity in the air, which could fall as rain under the right meteorological conditions.

Hong Kong is experiencing climate change not only through tropical cyclones, but also through extremely hot days and nights, said Kaplan, who conducted research at the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Hong Kong from March 2019 until he left the university earlier this month.

“All of these meteorological phenomena lead to conditions that can be difficult for people to handle: increased incidences of heatstroke and other heat related illnesses, damage to infrastructure from rain and flooding, hurricane-force winds, and landslides all contribute to economic damage and costly investments in repair and mitigation of future risks,” he said.

To cope with more extreme weather conditions, the Hong Kong authorities should review past disaster preparation measures and take into account new data when evaluating the efficiency of its systems for preventing slope failure and flooding, former Observatory chief Lam suggested.

“Climate change is here. Extremes will become normal… there is a need to enhance the climate resilience of our city,” he said.

Improving Hong Kong’s resilience meant ensuring the city’s infrastructure could withstand extreme weather conditions, and post-disaster recovery must be well-planned, too, Lam said.

The city should also broaden the scope of its disaster preparation to include measures for handling “secondary disasters,” such as the collapse of mobile network during a storm.

Lam also reminded Hongkongers to step up their disaster awareness and be aware of the “vulnerabilities” of a city.

“There is a lack of disaster awareness. People think that houses in Hong Kong are very well-built and the government is doing a good job and they do not have to worry because they assume someone would protect them. But when a disaster comes, you can only save yourself,” he said.

This should be ‘a learning experience’

A man who gave his name as Liu, 30, spoke to an HKFP reporter in Wong Tai Sin, where floods remained on Friday afternoon. He said he had been at a friend’s home in Ho Man Tin when the warning was hoisted on Thursday night, and had to take a detour to find his way back to his home in Wong Tai Sin.

He said he did not have enough time to take proper safety precautions at home.

“If the government is able to predict that the emergency conditions will have to be in place hours in advance, shouldn’t it also be able to send the [initial] warning much earlier?” he asked. “They should take this as a learning experience.”

Additional reporting: James Lee

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