Motion of Thanks - Governance, Constitutional Development and District  Administration (2014/2/12)

President, with all the changes in the economic landscapes of the Mainland and the world, the era of Hong Kong's unrivalled economic performance is already history. One reason for this is that internally, it has been encumbered with all sorts of political tugs-of-war in recent years. Information shows that the economic output of Hong Kong was equivalent to one fourth of the total economic output of China in the 1970s and 1980s, but the rate has now plunged to less than 3%, and it is estimated that there will be a further drop to less than 1% a decade later. It is undeniable that since Hong Kong's economic influence on the Mainland is waning, the Mainland has started to attach less and less importance to Hong Kong. At present, Beijing and Shanghai have already overtaken Hong Kong in overall economic strength, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen will be the next ones to do so. If we keep engaging in internal attrition and do not focus our energy on economic development, our reserves will be used up one day. The predicament that arises at that time will be irreversible.

Since the reunification, the Central Authorities have never ceased the provision of preferential policies in different areas, including the Individual Visit Scheme, in order to manifest its concern for Hong Kong. However, the majority of pan-democratic Members have dragged politics into economic development, fomenting trouble incessantly and seeking to plunge the SAR Government into crises of governance, in an attempt to produce adverse impacts on the economy and people's livelihood, and put the blame on the SAR Government. I would say this is unfair to the SAR Government. 

Since Hong Kong is a pluralistic society, there is basically nothing wrong for various political parties and groupings to have their respective aspirations and standpoints. Nonetheless, never-ending political disputes have made some investors lose confidence in Hong Kong. As some enterprises fear that the competitiveness of the Hong Kong market and its status as a financial centre are already weakening, they have started to waver and stopped any further investment in Hong Kong. If pan-democratic Members still seek to build castles in the air regarding constitutional reform, if they still refuse to cede even an inch and cherish the wishful thinking that "Occupy Central" can force the Central Authorities to yield, thus eventually causing the miscarriage of political reform and a repetition of the political reform stalemate in 2005, all sides will not get any benefits. I urge pan-democratic Members to return to the right track and discuss the arrangements for universal suffrage in a rational manner based on the framework of the Basic Law and the decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. If they do not do so, the Thailand today will be the Hong Kong tomorrow. 

President, on immigration policies, I would like to point out that according to the information provided by the Immigration Department, the total throughput at our immigration checkpoints last year was as large as 270 million clearances. The number of visitor trips to Hong Kong was more than 54.3 million, with an average of more than 140 000 visitors entering Hong Kong every day. President, the performance of our immigration checkpoints gives visitors their first impression of Hong Kong. But now we always find long queues at our major land boundary crossings during weekends and holidays, and in some cases, visitors have to queue up for over two hours. This directly affects how visitors, particularly visitors from overseas, look at Hong Kong. In contrast to the Mainland, Hong Kong is obviously short of immigration manpower. In the coming few years, the number of visitors is expected to grow by 10% a year, thus exerting heavier pressure on our immigration checkpoints. I hope that the Security Bureau can recruit a reasonable level of additional manpower to ease the pressure on front-line staff and address the long-standing manpower shortage, with a view to providing visitors with better and more convenient services.

Last year, around 3 million visitors from overseas entered Hong Kong by land. I propose the Immigration Department to set up dedicated immigration counters for foreigners, so as to reduce the inconvenience experienced by visitors from overseas and enhance the international image of Hong Kong. 

President, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has been rising year after year, and the demand for lodging has increased greatly. Seeing that the procedures of approving the operation of lawful hotels and guesthouses are cumbersome and time-consuming, and lured by the prospects of profits from  operating unlicensed guesthouses, many property owners have thus chosen the dangerous path of violating the law.

According to the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance, the operation and management of unlicensed guesthouses is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum fine of $200,000 and a prison sentence of two years. Even though inspections, prosecutions and cases of conviction have all recorded increases in recent years, only 390 persons were convicted of operating unlicensed guesthouses in the past five years. Of these persons, only 26 were sentenced to imprisonment, and most of the rest were just handed down a fine of several thousand dollars. This simply cannot achieve any deterrent effect at all. As the penalties are too light, more and more people have been lured to take the risk of operating unlicensed guesthouses. 

To address the surge of unlicensed guesthouses, I suggest that apart from making all-out efforts to step up inspection and enforcement, the authorities should actively review the existing legislation and penalties, so that operators of unlawful guesthouses can be subjected to heavier penalties. The authorities may consider the possibility of appeal in cases where penalties are overly light. A mechanism should be put in place to stop any unlicensed guesthouses involved in cases of conviction from resuming operation. 

Unlicensed guesthouses upset the normal operation of Hong Kong's tourism industry, and their existence is unfair to those who have made heavy investments in hotels and those who operate lawful guesthouses. Moreover, unlicensed guesthouses are also plagued with extremely serious fire and security risks, and are thus unable to ensure the personal safety of their guests. I hope the Government can accord sufficient attention to this issue, increase the input of manpower and resources, and do its utmost to clear unlicensed guesthouses, so as to prevent any further aggravation of the problem.

President, I so submit.