Letters | Why China should lead by example in the Indo-Pacific

Readers discuss the rules-based order, the EU’s response to John Lee’s election, cuts to welfare in Hong Kong’s latest budget, and the logic of hotel quarantine

South China Sea

Letters

Published: 2:30pm, 10 May 2022

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Alex Lo’s column on how China exploits Western hypocrisy made some excellent points (“How Beijing wins friends and gains influence in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean,” May 5). On the Chagos Islands, for example, it is certainly true that Britain and the United States are guilty of flouting several of international law’s most fundamental principles. Their behaviour is unjustifiable. Mauritius is right to pursue redress in international courts and organisations.

However, it is worth pointing out that China ignores international rules, too – not least of all the 2016 ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration that rejected core tenets of Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea. Such acts of brazen disregard for international law – in this case, a binding decision from a legitimately constituted arbitral tribunal – mean that China cannot credibly claim to be a “champion of developing countries”, as Lo put it. At least, some of its closest neighbours would presumably contest this assertion.

If there is a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, then it is not a very effective one. It binds neither external Western powers nor China, the region’s largest resident power. The best way for Beijing to help rectify this problem is to lead by example. This might encourage others to do the same.

Peter Harris, associate professor of political science, Colorado State University

EU should stay out of Hong Kong election

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell opines that the election of Hong Kong’s new leader John Lee Ka-chiu is “a violation of democratic principles and political pluralism”. How easily he forgets he was forced to withdraw from the Spanish prime ministerial race amid a financial scandal over two people he had appointed.

It is time for Europe’s politicians to cease using Hong Kong as a scapegoat for their own political advancement. Hong Kong is administered in accordance with the Basic Law and “one country, two systems”, allowing our economy to prosper. Hong Kong has serious work to do to repair the damage of our own incompetence; we need not dwell on the ignorant opinions of those for whom we also didn’t vote.

Mark Peaker, The Peak

Social welfare: cutting grants is not the solution

Hong Kong’s budget was finally passed by Legco without much objection (“Hong Kong legislature passes HK$700 billion budget with tax breaks, raft of subsidies for coronavirus relief”, May 4). The only abstention came from Tik Chi-yuen, the representative for the social welfare sector, who expressed his dissatisfaction over cuts to the sector’s lump sum grants.

Although the authorities spend billions on social welfare every year, the outcome is always below standard. The tragic scenes from Hong Kong’s nursing homes in February are still in everyone’s minds.

Cutting the welfare budget is not the solution. I wonder why the government does not consider restructuring the funding system.

A report has found that some senior executives in NGOs are on very high payrolls. The lump sum grant system used to assign government funds leaves it up to NGOs to distribute those funds. It is understandable that NGOs want to retain talent with attractive wages and fringes. While this system also allows NGOs to deploy funds much more flexibly and effectively, some critics have argued that it disadvantages frontline staff as NGOs uphold a salary structure which rewards those in the upper ranks of the organisation while hurting the lower ranks.

We cannot change this policy in the short term; even though many NGO workers and academics have opposed it, it is ultimately the government’s decision. What we can do is urge NGOs that receive the government subventions to not only disclose their salary expenses, but also set an upper limit for wages and fringes. This would ensure that the majority of funding is allocated to frontline services.

We owe thanks to Tik for his abstention; otherwise, we may not have been made aware of this cut.

Jack Chung, Sham Shui Po

No reason to keep hotel quarantine rule in place

With regard to the government’s refusal to allow incoming residents to isolate at home, rather than undergo hotel quarantine, Professor David Hui, the government’s perennially cautious Covid adviser, cites the concern that incoming travellers may live in subdivided units, which are unsuitable for home isolation.

This rather gives the lie to Hong Kong’s boast to be “Asia’s World City”.

But, realistically, what is the likelihood that any significant number of residents of subdivided units will be engaged in international air travel at present? Or perhaps these people economise on their rents to afford to go jet-setting around the world, with a sojourn in a quarantine hotel at the end of each voyage.

The government and its advisers continue to give specious reasons for the continued imposition of unnecessarily stringent Covid-19 restrictions. It just goes on and on, doing untold harm to Hong Kong, its economy, the well-being of its population and its international standing.

James Watkins, Mid-Levels