Latest news with #ChinesePeople'sPoliticalConsultativeConference
RTHK
25-06-2025
- Business
- RTHK
'Expand the use of Payment Connect'
'Expand the use of Payment Connect' Johnny Ng has proposed a dedicated channel under the Payment Connect system for property transactions involving mainland talent in Hong Kong. Photo: RTHK Lawmaker Johnny Ng said he believes that the newly-launched Payment Connect system could gradually be expanded to cover more commercial activities in future, such as transactions of e-commerce, properties, or even digital yuan and stable coins. Operations have been smooth for the cross-border payment service, which links the city's Faster Payment System (FPS) and the mainland's Internet Banking Payment System (IBPS), since its launch on Sunday. Speaking on RTHK's "In the Chamber" programme, Ng believes the current quota set for cross-border transactions is sufficient to meet people's needs. But he also called on authorities to explore other potential use, such as property transactions for top mainland talent in the SAR. "For example, can we develop a closed-loop system for the safe arrival of mainland funds in Hong Kong, that can also help track the asset [flows], and see if it can also be used for sending the proceeds from the sale of local properties back to the mainland?" he said. "I think such a dedicated channel could be established under the cross-border Payment Connect." Ng suggested the system could also cover cross-border e-commerce activities. "Now many Hongkongers are buying products from the mainland through the e-commerce platforms, while mainland consumers are also purchasing products from overseas. "So can we achieve the better integration of payment, customs declaration and logistics on cross-border e-commerce? I think the Payment Connect definitely has the potential to help with such application scenarios," he added, noting the ideas were also discussed during the annual "Two Sessions" meetings among SAR delegates earlier this year. Ng, who is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, added that Payment Connect can also be used for transactions of digital yuan and even stable coins, which is one of the industries the city is seeking to promote.
Nikkei Asia
24-06-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
AIIB names Chinese Communist Party Central Committee member as president
Finance Zou Jiayi takes over Beijing-based lender from internationalist Jin Liqun Zou Jiayi, a member of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and a deputy secretary-general of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, was chosen as the next president of the AIIB. © Reuters KENJI KAWASE TOKYO -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a multilateral development lender established under the initiative of China, selected Zou Jiayi as its new president at its annual meeting in Beijing on Tuesday. Zou, who was nominated by the Chinese government, is currently a member of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, and a deputy secretary-general of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, the country's top political advisory body.
RTHK
20-06-2025
- Politics
- RTHK
'Media should not abuse press freedom'
'Media should not abuse press freedom' Lo Wing-hung said the media won't easily violate security laws as long as they are not politically driven. Photo: RTHK Veteran journalist Lo Wing-hung said while press freedom is important, it should not be abused and and the media should always take a moderate stance. "It's like walking on a tightrope," he told RTHK's NSL Chronicles III programme. "I always think the 'middle-of-the-road' approach is the best for society's overall interests." He said press freedom comes with responsibility, describing the relationship between the two as that of "twin brothers". Lo, who's also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said media outlets won't easily violate security laws so long as they're not "politically-driven". For those with a "strong political agenda", he said they'll have to make a choice going forward, either to stop doing what they are doing or run the risk of committing a crime.
RTHK
12-06-2025
- Business
- RTHK
Businessman Charles Ho dies at 75
Businessman Charles Ho dies at 75 Charles Ho was once the chairman of Sing Tao News Corporation, and served as a standing committee member of the country's political advisory body. File photo: RTHK Tobacco and media tycoon Charles Ho has died at the age of 75. In February, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few months prior and he had since recovered after receiving treatment. Ho previously served as a standing committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He oversaw the operations of Sing Tao News Corporation as chairman before he sold his shares in 2021. The businessman also inherited the Hong Kong Tobacco Company from his grandfather, Ho Ying-chie, who founded the firm. In 2014, Ho was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Star by the government under then-Chief Executive CY Leung. Paying tribute on social media on Thursday, Leung called the news "a shock" and said the two had met over dinner just several weeks ago. The former SAR leader had words of praise for Ho, who he called a "philosophical person". Leung added that Ho "had a keen understanding of politics and the world, and never said one thing and meant another".
Time of India
08-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Buyer with ties to Chinese Communist Party got VIP treatment at Trump crypto dinner
The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China's Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat. But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Donald Trump's digital currency access to the president and the White House. Trump launched a so-called meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president's business partners created a contest in April, offering the coin's top buyers a tour of the White House and a private dinner with Trump at his Virginia golf club. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like If You Eat Ginger Everyday for 1 Month This is What Happens Tips and Tricks One of those buyers was He Tianying, who is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, according to government documents in China examined by The New York Times. That government group, referred to as the CPPCC, is an advisory body that seeks to broaden the Communist Party's influence and solicit support from influential people in Chinese society. Live Events He, who was registered at the Trump event as a resident of Hong Kong, advises the Chinese government through his role as a delegate of the Fangshan CPPCC, a district of Beijing. He is listed as a member of the organization's science and technology committee. The Times could find no indication that He is a member of the Communist Party, and the government body he serves on is fairly low-level. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories There were no restrictions on who could buy the Trump meme coin -- which was marketed like a collectible baseball card -- including foreign nationals. But the winning buyers were given the opportunity for close proximity to the president. It is not clear why He wanted to attend. Still, at a time when the administration is seeking to scrutinize and revoke the visas of Chinese students with ties to the Communist Party, the incident illustrates inconsistencies in the Trump administration's approach to how it handles Chinese nationals, as well as potential weaknesses in the background checks the Trump administration did on the guests who bought his meme coin. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in an interview that the dinner was a private event and that government officials were not closely involved. "As the White House has always maintained, this was not an official White House event," she said. Once a crypto skeptic, Trump has done an about-face and declared himself a digital coin enthusiast, raising ethical concerns and blurring the line between his personal business ventures and the presidency. His family's company has issued its own cryptocurrency, and he has also heavily promoted the meme coin, known as $TRUMP. The meme coin dinner engendered strong criticism from Democrats, government watchdogs and even some Republicans about the appearance of monetising the presidency for personal gain. The event was arranged by the president's business partners to directly enrich the first family, even as Trump spoke that evening behind a stand emblazoned with the presidential seal. Bidders competed to accumulate the largest holding of the coin over several weeks. The top 220 won a dinner with Trump, and the top 25 also got a "VIP" tour of the White House. The buyers used self-adopted nicknames that disguised their identities, but the Times obtained copies of several pages of an official sign-in sheet for the dinner and over the past two weeks has been examining the biographies of many of the attendees. He, using the nickname Sky, owned $3.7 million worth of the meme coin, public transaction records show, at the time the contest ended. He was ranked as the seventh-largest buyer of the cryptocurrency, which entitled him to a gold-colored VIP wristband for the event. The day after the dinner at Trump's golf club, He was observed by a reporter from the Times entering the White House for the tour that had been set up by Trump's business partner Bill Zanker, who created the Trump meme coin. Zanker and the Trump family share in the revenues from the meme coin business, which has already totaled at least $320 million, according to an estimate by Chainalysis, a crypto forensics group. After the tour, He, using a social media account under his Sky pseudonym, posted a series of photos from the dinner and White House tour, which he electronically modified to cover his face. The Times was able to establish his identity through publicly available information, including photos and biographical information on his company website. He made several waves of purchases during the three weeks of the meme coin contest, according to the transaction records. "May I have the pleasure?" he wrote in one social media post, showing off his standing as one of the top owners of the meme coin, several days before the contest ended. He declined to comment as he entered the White House, and he did not respond to follow-up emails, calls and text messages from the Times. The dinner invitation sent to He stands in contrast to the statement Trump issued Wednesday, arguing that his administration needed to urgently move to block visas for certain Chinese nationals, including those attending Harvard University, as "the Chinese Communist Party has sent thousands of midcareer and senior bureaucrats" to the United States. He said this order was for "crucial national security reasons." A senior White House official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said this week that the presence of He at the dinner and White House tour was unfortunate and that overall, the meme coin dinner had created unnecessary questions. But the White House official added that it had occurred because Trump "carelessly committed" to his longtime friend and business partner Zanker that he would be a part of it. The official added that Trump was not notified who would be attending and was unaware of He's background. Supporting the party The mission of the Fangshan District division of the CPPCC, which lists He as a member, is to "uphold the overall leadership of the Communist Party of China and strengthen the common ideological and political foundation," the group says in describing one of its meetings this year. CPPCC committees are advisory bodies to China's rubber-stamp legislatures at the national, provincial and, like Fangshan, district or county levels. Members can make policy recommendations to the legislative bodies, called People's Congresses. These committees are part of the Communist Party's United Front system, which is devised to co-opt broad segments of the population, including entrepreneurs like He, into supporting and carrying out the party's policies. The CPPCC bodies also act as networking clubs. "When you are a CPPCC member, you are expected to be a part of the United Front system and carry the water where the party asks you to," said Peter Mattis, the president of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation who studies the United Front. The Times turned up documentation on Chinese government websites showing He's participation in the CPPCC group, as well as an attendance list for the committee's gathering in Beijing in January that included He's name. Chinese government records show that He is the majority owner of a Beijing-based investment firm, TechSharpe (Beijing) Capital Management Co., which says on its website that it uses artificial intelligence to "conduct quantitative investment in stocks." Recently, He has also promoted a crypto firm called LuckyFuture and has interacted on social media with Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the giant crypto exchange Binance. In a social media post, responding to an inquiry from the Times, Zhao said he learned about LuckyFuture after He reached out to him in the last few weeks. (A Binance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.) He came to the United States from China about a decade ago to get a master's degree in finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before returning to China and becoming active in the CPPCC, which is noted in his TechSharpe biography. This made He just the kind of student Trump is now targeting. But there was no hint of those kinds of fears in gracious invitations sent via email in mid-May to the dinner guests. "Congratulations!" said the notice sent to He, with a photo illustration of a muscular, smiling Trump at a dinner table, with an American flag on his lapel. "We can't wait to see you at the Gala Dinner." (He posted a copy of these emails on his social media account.) A table of foreign visitors According to a video taken at the dinner, the VIPs at just one table illustrated how many of the guests had traveled from overseas, including from China. He's dining companions included Justin Sun, a Chinese-born billionaire who was the contest's single largest buyer and one of the largest investors in the Trump family's other crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. Sun also has experience as a CPPCC member. In 2016, he was named as a delegate for a committee in a district in Guangzhou, a city in southern China. Only 26 at the time, he was among the youngest people in the country to sit on a CPPCC body. "I feel that the responsibility is very heavy, and I must strive to adapt to the new role as soon as possible," Sun was quoted in state media as saying at the time. (His representatives did not respond to a request for comment.) Also seated at the table were Cheng Lu, a Singapore-based crypto investor, who told the Times in an interview outside the White House that he bought a large amount of the family's meme coin because he wanted a chance to privately meet with Trump. Sheldon Xia, the founder of BitMart, a cryptocurrency trading platform backed by China-based Fenbushi Capital, joined them at the table, along with Sangrok Oh, the CEO of Hyperithm, a Seoul- and Tokyo-based firm that manages digital assets for institutional investors. Guests invited to the dinner were "required to fill out a brief form as part of the security background check to gain entry to the event," according to an email sent to the winners. The questionnaire was created with a service called CryptoComply offered by the New York-based firm Canaria Consulting. It requested information such as name, date of birth and place of residence. The 25 top Trump meme coin holders had their names submitted to a background check system called White House Worker and Visitor Entry System, a government official told the Times. This system compares the names of the pending visitors with government databases that include terrorist watch lists and lists of known criminals. "The U.S. Secret Service is responsible for vetting all White House visitors and guests, and we fully trust their process in doing so," Leavitt said. Some guests at the dinner said they were surprised at how lax the security appeared at the event. People not on the guest list were in certain cases allowed to enter the golf club grounds that evening and remain there after Trump arrived, the Times also confirmed. "I expected more from the security questions," said Nicholas Pinto, a Florida resident and crypto trader who attended the dinner. "It was very basic. And next thing you know, I am standing there in the room with President Trump."
