Senior official calls for peace

HONG Kong should restore order and peace as soon as possible to retain talent, a senior official of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said yesterday.

Chief secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung urged immediate efforts to bring back peace to Hong Kong in a bid to rebuild the confidence and trust of the international community, as well as the global image of Hong Kong, in his weekly online article.

It was unavoidable that some local and international talent would consider building a career elsewhere for various reasons in the current situation, Cheung said.

However, Cheung stressed that there was no massive brain drain in Hong Kong, whose advantages and competitiveness are still recognised by international institutions.

The senior official said fostering and attracting top talent was crucial to the development of Hong Kong, which faces the challenge of an ageing population and a labour shortage.

He also said that the HKSAR government would continue working on a human resource plan to make Hong Kong more competitive and help the younger generation grasp the opportunity of development.

Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday, with police using pepper spray on those who deviated from a pre-approved route, the South China Morning Post reported.

The march started peacefully in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district, but police raised a warning flag shortly afterwards to indicate that people had deviated from the route, the report said.

They then deployed pepper spray and fired at least five projectiles, it said, without giving details about the type of projectiles used.

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