Quoteworthy: “It’s like a knife on the top of our head. Any time, it will come to our neck.” –— Jimmy Lai, prominent pro-democracy activist, after China approves new Hong Kong security laws
China approves Hong Kong security legislation, defying Trump
Chinese lawmakers approved a proposal for sweeping new national security legislation in Hong Kong, defying a threat by US President Donald Trump to respond strongly to a measure that democracy advocates say will curb essential freedoms in the city.
The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, approved the draft decision by a vote of 2,878 to 1 on May 28 at its annual session in Beijing, with six abstentions.
Chinese officials could now take months to sort of the details of laws banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference before they are given to Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed administration to promulgate.
The move to bypass the semi-autonomous city’s local Legislative Council has alarmed Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists and opposition politicians. It risks spawning yet more protests in the city and could potentially prompt companies to flee if the laws undermine the independent judiciary in the Asian financial hub.
The Trump administration on Wednesday took the significant step of saying it could no longer certify Hong Kong’s autonomy from China, which was promised before the British handed the city back in 1997. The move could trigger a range of actions by the Trump administration, from sanctions on Chinese officials to revoking the city’s special trading status with the US.
President Donald Trump, asked about the possible sanctions, said on May 26 his administration was “doing something now” that he would unveil this week.
“Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as US laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in announcing the decision. “No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.”
“All of the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong people and international investors will remain unchanged,” Hong Kong’s government said in a statement on May 27. It said the laws would not erode the rule of law, an independent judiciary or freedom of expression. — Bloomberg
Trump, furious at Twitter, aims executive order at tech giants
Donald Trump has been raging against Twitter since the social media platform that helped vault him to the presidency slapped fact-check links on a pair of his tweets.
Now, he is poised to take action that could bring a flurry of lawsuits down on Twitter, Facebook and other technology giants by having the government narrow liability protections that they enjoy for third parties’ posts, according to a draft of an executive order obtained by Bloomberg.
The companies’ protections against lawsuits apply when they act “in good faith” in taking down or limiting the visibility of inappropriate tweets, videos and other social media posts, but the law does not define bad faith. The draft order would push the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules clarifying the issue, potentially allowing users to sue over takedowns if they were inconsistent with companies’ terms of service, did not provide enough notice, or meet other suggested criteria.
The draft order would also convene, through the Justice Department, a working group of state attorneys general to look into deceptive practices and review executive ad spending on the platforms.
The move could set off a legal battle between Washington and Silicon Valley. “Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election,” the President said on May 27 night, on Twitter. “If that happens, we no longer have our freedom. I will never let it happen! They tried hard in 2016, and lost. Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!”
Word of the executive order came a day after Twitter added links to a fact-checking page on Trump tweets asserting that mail-invoting leads to rampant fraud. — Bloomberg
CapitaLand obtains $500 mil sustainability-linked loan
CapitaLand has obtained a $500 million sustainability-linked loan from United Overseas Bank (UOB). The loan is the largest in Singapore’s real estate sector. The four-year $500 million loan is CapitaLand’s fifth sustainability-linked loan, which is the highest number of such loans by a real estate company in Singapore.
In total, CapitaLand and its real estate investment trusts (REITs) have raised over $2.42 billion – through sustainable financing instruments – in less than two years, which reinforces the group’s commitment towards responsible growth.
The sustainability-linked loan from UOB is explicitly linked to CapitaLand’s wins in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), a leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments across the world. In the GRESB 2019, CapitaLand placed first across four categories and was also awarded the highest tier rating of five stars in the Global “Diversified – Listed” category.
As the loan is tied to CapitaLand’s ESG performance, the group has the flexibility to use the loan proceeds for general corporate purposes. CapitaLand will also obtain interest savings as it maintains or improves its rating on the benchmark. — Felicia Tan
Global hiring stabilises even as pandemic keeps jobs market weak
The global jobs slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic is bottoming out, if data from LinkedIn is a guide.
The social networking platform says the percentage of its members who joined a new employer stabilised over the past six weeks, after plunging in March. France is showing the sharpest pickup, and Italy — one of Europe’s hardest-hit nations — is seeing a “mild improvement”.
It is an imperfect measure — LinkedIn is geared toward professional jobs — but it is another sign of a turning point in the fight against the disease. Many countries have started to loosen their lockdowns, allowing non-essential services to resume operations.
Still, hiring rates are considerably lower than a year ago. In China, the first country to respond to and emerge from the pandemic, hiring is now flat y-o-y. In the US, the world’s largest economy, it is down about 35%.
“We seem to be through the worst of hiring pullback,” said Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn. “However, it’s key to remember that even while hiring may be stabilising, we’re still seeing millions lose their jobs. It will be years before we get back to the strong global labour market we saw at the start of 2020.” — Bloomberg
