Coalition of Politics, Not Pragmatism

Tung Chee-hwa (left) and Leung Chun-ying form a coalition for Hong Kong

Two of Hong Kong's former chief executives, Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying are keeping busy these days. They have formed a coalition banding together top business, political and academic elites to somehow revive the city's economy.

Called Hong Kong Coalition (how inspiring), the group has 1,500 members, including tycoons like Lee Shau-kee, Li Ka-shing, academics such as Chinese University President Rocky Tuan Sung-chi, former secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, and top epidemiologist Gabriel Leung.

Lee Shau-kee is part of the group to revive the economy

Not only will this alliance try to help contain the coronavirus epidemic, but also revive Hong Kong's economy and end the political stalemate between the government and protesters that had "shattered" the city since the anti-extradition protests began last June.

"The opposition has resorted to all means to seek mutual destruction, such as attacking the police with petrol bombs, and making remote bombs," Tung said.

"They damaged mutual interests of Hong Kong, and pushed the city to the edge of a cliff. If they want to destroy the future of Hong Kong, we won't let them succeed."

Some 1,500 members have signed up to the coalition

Tung doesn't seem to remember that it was Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who, wanting to gain brownie points with Beijing, proposed the extradition bill without thinking through the legal consequences, and more importantly, how Hong Kong people would feel about it.

And she did not care that 1 million people came out to peacefully protest against it; her lack of empathy led to escalated violence. "It was you who taught me that peaceful marches are useless", was spray painted on the walls of the Legislative Council when it was stormed by protesters on July 1.

Tung also accused opposition lawmakers of abusing their power by filibustering in the legislature. Can we remind him that because they are the opposition, it is their right to do that?

Will the pro-Beijing group help young protesters get jobs?

Meanwhile Leung Chun-ying claims the coalition will help young people find jobs, internships and volunteer positions so they won't "stay idle".

But which students will they choose? The ones towing the government line, or those who participated in the protests? When asked about this, Leung did not reply.

Just how this group of heavyweights -- many of them past their prime -- are going to somehow magically revive Hong Kong's economy back to where it was before is wishful thinking.

Or is this a make-work project to give the appearance that Hong Kong elites are trying to look like they are doing something for the economy?

Carrie Lam caused the protests last year that led to violence

Hong Kong needs creative leadership and new ideas, not stodgy people who join this group to be politically correct... guess that doesn't include disgraced CE Donald Tsang Yam-kuen...

Fact of the Day: China has the Most Property Billionaires

Hui Ka-yan of Evergrande is the richest property billionaire in China

Perhaps not surprisingly, China has the largest number of property billionaires thanks to three decades of economic growth and people's pursuit of buying a home.

According to the 2019 Hurun Global Real Estate Rich List, China has 108 US dollar billionaires out of 239 around the world, while the United States has 26, the UK 17 and Hong Kong 25.

Li Ka-shing is among the top property tycoons in Hong Kong

China's economic development has fueled the boom of people leaving the countrysides and moving to the cities looking for work, which surged demand for housing.

"The urbanization mega trend in China has driven the biggest wealth explosion in the history of the world, with the result that most of the world's largest real estate developers today come from China," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the Hurun Report.

Housing used to be provided by the state during the early days of the Communist Party's centrally controlled planned economy. Private housing only emerged two decades ago as the government experimented with capitalism to allow homes to be sold for profit, with the very first land sale taking place in 1987.

Many of the biggest Chinese developers today -- including Country Garden Holdings, China Vanke Group, China Evergrande and Wanda Group -- owe their establishment to the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.

Another Hong Kong property tycoon is Lee Shau-kee

Seven of the world's top 10 property tycoons are Chinese, the wealthiest is Evergrande's chairman, Hui Ka-yan, who is also known as Xu Jiayin in his native Hunan province, with an estimated net worth of 250 billion yuan (US$37 billion).

Hong Kong has 25 billionaires, including Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau-kee. Shenzhen has 17 billionaires, and Beijing has 15, according to the Hurun Report.

Number of the Day: US$3 Billion

The Murray Road car park (right) sold today for US$3 billion

Land is getting even more expensive in Hong Kong, with today's sale of the Murray Road car park for a staggering US$3 billion (HK$23.28 billion). That works out to HK$50,064 per square foot.

Whoa.

The government building was sold to Henderson Land

The record up to now was a grade-A office space at 9 Queens Road Central sold in April for HK$145.82 million, or HK$39,800 per square foot.

The buyer of Murray Road, Henderson Land Development, run by Lee Shau-kee and his family, beat out eight rival bids, in particular mainland developers who are now strangled from getting money out of China these days.

Henderson Land plans to develop the multi-storey car park into -- what else -- a commercial building the company describes as "a landmark building" that will be completed in 2022.

Analysts are already speculating multinational and mainland firms will occupy that office space.

There's a convenient walkway from Central to Admiralty

So while car owners already have one less place to park their cars in Central (it closed a few weeks ago), pedestrians will lose a convenient thoroughfare, as it provided an easy short cut to Admiralty and the edge of Central.

By the way -- now that the government will have another US$3 billion in its coffers, how about using those proceeds towards building social housing? Seems like the most decent thing the authorities could do...

Fact of the Day: China has more Billionaires than the US

Wang Jianlin of Wanda is China's wealthiest man at US$26 billion

The famous -- or infamous -- Hurun Global Rich List is out and there were 99 new billionaires in the world to a record high of 2,188 last year, the majority of which come from China.

Ninety of them came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and the mainland, and so China's number of billionaires is 568, and now it can boast having more than the US, which now has 535. Chinese billionaires had a combined next worth of US$1.4 trillion.

Li Ka-shing trails behind Wang with US$25 billion

Also the uber rich got even wealthier this past year with an increase of 9 percent at US$7.3 trillion.

Beijing is now called the billionaire capital of the world, with 100 of them based in the Chinese city.

Nine Chinese billionaires were in the top 100 in the Hurun Global Rich List last year.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of property and entertainment conglomerate Wanda was the richest in China, 21st in the world with a net worth of US$26 billion.

He beat Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing whose wealth shrank by 22 percent to US$25 billion, and 23rd in the world.

Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee is in 27th place, while Alibaba's Jack Ma Yun dropped two places to 36th, and his network shrank by 14 percent to US$21 billion.

Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land is the third richest in China

The Hurun list is infamous mostly because after the Chinese tycoons are listed there, some have "disappeared" then investigated and convicted of corruption. Huang Guangyu, formerly chairman of Gome, was convicted of stock market manipulation and is now serving a 14-year jail sentence.

So while these people amass gobs of wealth, they can face a severe reversal of fortune...

Money Talks for Tycoons

Li Ka-shing hints the economy will go sour if political reform not approved

As expected, Hong Kong's tycoons have spoken out in favour of political reform.

In the last few days, four of them have voiced their opinion, including Li Ka-shing.

Today at Cheung Kong Centre in Central, the 86-year-old Li said if the package is not voted through, it would be an "unwilling and inestimable loss" for all Hong Kong people, including him, and that it "will hit" the city's economy.

Lee Shau-kee sweetens deal with HK$1 billion donation

However at the same time he said it would not affect his company's investment in Hong Kong, saying, "The two are not related."

He said: "Pan-democrats are people with ideals, but they should also know that they are elected by voters, and many people want the political reform [package] to be approved. What good would be a disapproval bring, what benefit is there for Hong Kong?

"There are many capable, wise people among the pan-democrats. They should sit down for the sake of Hong Kong's well-being and think about what to do," he urged.

Excuse me Mr Li, but there are many people the pan-democrats represent who do not want the political reform package to be approved. They do not want to participate in a fixed race. You may like the candidates because they suit your political alignments, but not us.

Peter Woo calls for lawmakers to use "public wisdom"

Then yesterday Henderson Land Development chairman Lee Shau-kee, 86, said Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index could surpass 30,000 points if the reform package was given the green light, and added he would sweeten the deal with a HK$1 billion donation to charity.

Translation: If you support the political reform proposal, you will make us tycoons even richer so I'll donate some money to you poor little things.

Former Wharf chairman Peter Woo Kwong-ching issued a strongly worded statement calling on "non-radical lawmakers to "stand on the side of public wisdom" and support the government proposal.

What public wisdom? How is a fixed race good for Hong Kong?

And then K Wah Group chairman Lui Che-woo penned an article, saying social conflicts had weakened Hong Kong's competitiveness, and that different sectors should seek a win-win solution on political reform.

Lui Che-woo says social conflicts affect HK's competitiveness

Mr Lui, perhaps you would like to sort out the city's social conflicts for the government, because it doesn't seem to care. We all want a win-win solution on political reform but at the moment it's all one-sided. Perhaps you can contact Beijing for us and tell them to negotiate with the pan-democrats in good faith?

Through their words it's obvious the tycoons are only interested in the economic impact of the political reform package, not how this will affect Hong Kong and its people in the long term.

They are just towing the Party line and hoping that by repeating the mantra of passing political reform, that it will eventually happen.

Meanwhile the media asked Li if he would mourn the Tiananmen Square crackdown tomorrow, and Li said the incident was "very regrettable".

Talk about downplaying one of the darkest events in modern Chinese history...

Finally a Donation

Lee Shau-kee has donated land for a Tuen Mun nursing home

Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee must be really desperate to leave his legacy because he has been so persistent in wanting to donate land to Hong Kong that he finally got his wish.

Lee, 85, donated 100,000 square feet in Lam Tei in Tuen Mun to build a 2,000-bed nursing home for the elderly. Currently a car park, the space will be conveniently located next to Pok Oi Hospital. The nursing home is expected to be in operation by 2017.

While the land comes from the company, the tycoon also donated HK$107 million, the equivalent of the land price and the land premium needed to rezone the area into community use. He donated the money to Henderson Land as a personal donation.

Earlier this year Lee tried to donate land to the government to build 1,000 small flats for about HK$1 million each on farmland in Yuen Long. However the Hong Kong government rejected it, saying he should approach such non-governmental groups as the Housing Society instead. Discussions are still on going with the society.

We're still trying to figure out why this need to donate land... with the Yuen Long site, it is understood Henderson Land owned plots near the farmland he would have donated so it would have raised the property value of the area.

But here we shall find out if there are some strings attached or some trick up his sleeve, but so far, it looks pretty much above board.

Tuen Mun has a large number of elderly residents so the nursing home will be put to good use.

Maybe Lee is keen to be the anti-Lee Ka-shing?