Tripperhead's Turtleneck Tuesday January 17th, 2023

By Aaron Busch

The Executive Council is in recess (again) so no John Lee press conference today. Instead he gave an exclusive interview to state-owned, Hong Kong Liaison Office-controlled newspaper Hong Kong Commercial Daily. Crux of the article? Good news for Covid restrictions. Bad news for journalists.

China released data for 2022: GDP was up but not as much as expected, and the population dropped by 850k, the first time in 62 years.

And Cathay flight attendants union has decided to work-to-rule starting Thursday.

All this and the rest of today’s news 👇

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1. Chief Executive John Lee hopes to be rid of Covid restrictions within the first quarter of 2023.

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   ⚠️🇭🇰 Chief Executive John Lee, in an interview with Hong Kong Commercial Daily: “My hope in 2023 is to remove all Covid restrictions” “Of course, I hope that there will be no Covid-19 curbs, including mask orders.” thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/…

   

   thestandard.com.hkJohn Lee hopes to end all Covid restrictions, including masks, this year Hong Kong’s leader John Lee is optimistic he can remove the last pandemic curbs including mask wearing this year. “My hope in 2023 is to remove all Covid restrictions,” Lee said...

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   2. In the same article, Lee said he has asked the Security Bureau to review Article 23 before making it law, after seeing foreign interference in Hong Kong in 2019. Journalists were picked out for special mention.

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   🇭🇰🕵️‍♂️ Chief Executive John Lee: • Article 23 of the Basic Law will tackle spying, including by organisations set up by foreign agents, or any masquerading as media outlets. • 🇭🇰 still has people pretending to be journalists and putting out fake news. news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compon…

   

   news.rthk.hkJohn Lee plans to root out spies and fake journalists - RTHKChief Executive John Lee says planned national security laws under Article 23 of the Basic Law will tackle spying, including by organisations set up b...

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   3. To cope with pre-CNY travel, the quota for high speed rail has been increased to 7k each way starting today.

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   🇭🇰↔️🇨🇳🚄 • daily quota will increase to 7,000 tickets in both north and southbound directions from tomorrow std.stheadline.com/realtime/artic…

   

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   🇭🇰↔️🇨🇳🚄 Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Lam Sai-hung, on high-speed rail reopening January 15th: • daily quota of 5,000 tickets in both north and southbound directions • quota system in place for smooth operation of West Kowloon station • will review in future https://t.co/vbR0jVtVpG

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   4. Data out of China today was a bit bleak. GDP was still up, but way off expectations, and a sizeable fall in population for the first time since 1961.

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   🇨🇳 China statistics released today: GDP: 3% 📈 GDP: ¥121.02 trillion GDP 🎯: 5.5% 📉 Population: 1.41175 billion 📉 (first time population has declined since 1961)

   

   Caixin Global @caixin

   China’s GDP grew 3% in 2022, official data show, missing the government’s 5.5% target, as Covid control measures in line with the country’s now-aborted “zero-Covid” strategy dulled economic activity for months. https://t.co/Zu5fgsVYZt

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   5. Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union will instruct members to “work-to-rule” on flights starting this Thursday.

   Aaron Busch @tripperhead

   ⚠️🇭🇰🛫 Cathay Pacific Flight Attendant's Union will begin "work-to-rule" from January 19th (Thursday), after requesting Cathay Pacific management meet to address their concerns by January 17th. Management said they can only meet on the 19th at the earliest. (📸: CPFAU FB)