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Letters

Letters

Letters | Hong Kong mustn’t fall behind in recognising overseas stablecoins

US President Donald Trump holds the signed Genius Act, which will develop a regulatory framework for stablecoins, at the White House on July 18, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Readers discuss a recognition framework for dollar-denominated stablecoins, and the significance of Beijing’s offshore insurance tax for Hong Kong.

Letters | 5-year plan must take mental health seriously for the economy’s sake

People fill the streets in Kwun Tong at lunchtime. In driving economic innovation, the protection of human capital, and mental health, is strategic. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers discuss why mental health ought to be positioned as a strategic asset, and how the city is well-placed to build health resilience for the world’s most impoverished.

Letters | For better mental health, help students connect and build inclusive empathy

Students resume school in Wan Chai in 2022. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers discuss how to tackle Hong Kong’s youth mental health crisis from the ground up, and a new chapter for the city.

Letters | Northern Metropolis planning must include kindergartens and schools

A view of the eastern section of the Fanling Bypass, with the Shenzhen skyline in the distance. In planning the Northern Metropolis, education must be treated as critical infrastructure from the outset, rather than a supporting service. Photo: Eugene Lee

Readers discuss how to make the Northern Metropolis attractive to talent, and a research project to identify the benefits of culture.

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Letters | Hong Kong’s ethnic minority students face a new challenge – Mandarin

People walk past bilingual posters at the Building a Multicultural Workplace Job Fair held by the Labour Department at MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok in 2025. Photo: Nora Tam

Readers discuss the necessity of a full-fledged Chinese-as-a-second-language curriculum, and a win-win food rescue mechanism.

Letters | Passing a driving test in Hong Kong shouldn’t be an Odyssean ordeal

Driving lessons are in progress in Kowloon City learners have their on-road driving lessons with tutors at Tin Kwong Road, Kowloon City. The Transport Department announced in April that applications would open in May for 332 new licences for private driving instructors. 13JUN26 SCMP / Elson Li

Readers discuss learning to drive in the city, the potential for Hong Kong to develop pet-friendly travel, and municipal maintenance.

Letters | Child nutrition in Asia is a worthy investment

Students pray before eating free meals supplied by an Indonesian government programme at an elementary school in Banda Aceh in 2025. Fuel and fertiliser costs may impact child nutrition in Asia, with long-term consequences. Photo: AFP

Readers discuss the region’s nutrition problem, the US’ yen intervention, and the future of Bhutan’s traditional arts.

Letters | Heat resilience should be baked into buildings across Hong Kong

A rooftop farm at Metroplaza in Kwai Fong in 2022. High-rise developments should prioritise operable windows and sky gardens to ease vertical heat accumulation. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Readers discuss heat-resilient building design as public health policy, and how to better safeguard teachers’ and students’ well-being.

Letters | A colonial relic like the judicial wig has no place in Hong Kong

Legal professionals gather after the senior counsel admission ceremony at the Court of Final Appeal building in Central in 2025. Photo: Nora Tam

Readers discuss why wigs should no longer be worn in court, verification as an AI-related skill, and long medical appointment wait times.

Letters | Hong Kong ‘over’? Stephen Roach is missing the point

Robin Zeng, chairman of Chinese electric-vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), centre right, strikes the gong at the listing ceremony in Hong Kong in 2025. Photo: AP

Readers discuss the city’s transformation, tying government official KPIs to Scoop, and promoting mini-events like Beyblade battles.

Letters | Cambodia should investigate those who enabled scam networks

A Thai soldier stands guard in a compound that the Thai military says was used for scam operations, in the town of O’Smach, along Cambodia’s northern border with Thailand, on April 7. Photo: Reuters

Readers discuss how Cambodia can regain international credibility, and vigilance against fraudulent loans and transactions.

Letters | Hong Kong needn’t match mainland prices but must compete on value

A shopper contemplates sourdough and other bread at a bakery in the MixC Shenzhen Bay mall in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district on July 1. Consumers who travel across the border are returning with new expectations. Photo: May Tse

Readers discuss how mainland travel is reshaping Hongkongers’ ideas of service and value, overcrowding on the Airport Express, and the US’ gift to China.

Letters | Physical toys aren’t fighting a losing battle. How’s that for hope?

People gather along Kwun Tong Promenade to play with battling spinning tops on May 7. Beyblades have been making a comeback across Hong Kong. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers discuss the simple joys of playing with spinning tops, and qualities a good public official should have.

Letters | How China’s zero-carbon factories can shape future of manufacturing

An employee patrols a Jiangsu Yueda Textile Group factory in Yancheng city, east China’s Jiangsu province, on July 25. Once a factory’s carbon reductions, renewable electricity usage and other sustainability indicators are certified by third parties as standardised assets, investments such as energy-saving equipment, previously regarded as pure costs, can begin to qualify as assets. Photo: Xinhua

Readers discuss the significance of turning carbon emissions into measurable assets, American expertise in China, and making Hong Kong beautiful.

Letters | Moving out of Hong Kong would be a bad idea for HSBC and StanChart

A view of financial buildings, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority headquarters. A think tank has proposed encouraging the two banks to relocate from Hong Kong amid concern about Beijng's tightened control over the city. Photo: May Tse

Readers discuss a proposal that two of Hong Kong’s note-issuing banks should relocate, and employment protections in the digital age.

Letters | Don’t be complacent about contracts in times of shipping disruptions

The Strait of Hormuz near the beach of Bandar Abbas in Iran on June 30. Disruptions to shipping through Hormuz and other chokepoints represent a stress test of commercial contracts. Photo: ISNA via Reuters

Readers discuss specialised clauses in shipping contracts, enforcement of the dog-friendly dining scheme, and kerbside parking.

Letters | Law reform ought not overlook long-term child sexual abuse

Under the current regime, a survivor of child sexual abuse has to distinguish the details of each incident to meet the requirements for prosecution even though they have faced prolonged, persistent and repetitive abuse. A new offence should be introduced to focus on proving patterns of sexual exploitation between an adult abuser and a child over a period of time. Photo: Theodora Yu

Readers discuss the necessity of a new offence for persistent child sexual abuse, and why the Iran war is unpopular among Nato countries.

Letters | Sports bosses’ meeting should be treated as a sales pitch for Hong Kong

Paddlers take part in the Sun Life Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races in 2025. Hong Kong should showcase its expertise in international services, hospitality and event management when it hosts the 2026 Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) general assembly. Photo: Eugene Lee

Readers discuss the significance of Hong Kong hosting the world’s Olympic committees, an immigration hiccup in Kyrgyzstan, and a judge reprimanded for plagiarism.

Letters | Missile test shows major-power rivalry is spilling into the Pacific

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a long-range ballistic missile bursts out of the sea during a test launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific on July 6. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Readers discuss the fallout of China’s recent missile test, the massive protests in India sparked by exam irregularities, and dwindling sales at the Hong Kong Book Fair.

Letters | Offer Hong Kong youth a mentor’s guidance, not more lesson plans

Dozens of students and their mentors took part in a Cathay Pacific community flight programme on May 21, 2023. Mentoring could begin simply, by matching adults with students or young employees and giving them a quiet place to talk. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Readers discuss tapping a great resource in this city – its people, and how the science of longevity is bigger than biohacking.

Letters | Hong Kong’s first 5-year plan should take sustainability seriously

Flood barriers are up at an exit of the Sham Shui Po MTR Station after the Hong Kong Observatory issued a black rainstorm warning on June 18. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers suggest a list of environmental priorities for the city, and discuss renewed tensions in the South China Sea.

Letters | China’s Mazu system is a win for climate adaptation and cultural heritage

Pilgrims carry a sedan chair holding a statue of Mazu, the sea goddess, during a ceremony in 2023 in Ningde, Fujian province. It is fitting that a modern weather warning system designed to protect lives should carry the name of a guardian long associated with the sea. Photo: VCG via Getty Images

Readers discuss Chinese names for scientific projects, why ride-hailing cars pose a problem for Hong Kong, and the quality of teaching at universities.

Letters | Manage tourist flow to Sharp Island for a better travel experience

Sharp Island in Sai Kung on May 1. On the first day of the Labour Day golden week, around 3,000 people flocked to the island. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers discuss why Sharp Island visitor data must be monitored, the Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry, how to remember those who died in the fire, and executive-led governance.

Letters | Climate change demands stronger worker protections in Hong Kong

People wait to cross the road in Tsim Sha Tsui during heavy rain on July 16. For delivery workers and part-timers, income is tied directly to hours worked and work suspensions during extreme weather can mean immediate financial hardship. Photo: Jelly Tse

Readers discuss workers’ safety and rights during extreme weather, the state of Earth’s life support systems, and how to rejuvenate Chinese football.

Letters | Dog-killing video debate distracts attention from a more pressing task

A woman holds her dog as she takes a picture of glowing bamboo rafts during the Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing on June 19. China has made enormous economic and technological progress, yet it still lacks a national law prohibiting cruelty towards all animals. Photo: EPA

Readers discuss animal protection legislation in mainland China, dogs in restaurants in Hong Kong, and animal welfare.

Letters | China’s new human rights action plan is a significant step forward

Relatives carry a coffin in Polewali Mandar, Indonesia in 2023, during the funeral for a victim of the explosion of a smelting furnace at a Chinese-owned nickel plant on Sulawesi island. Photo: AP

Readers discuss the obligations of Chinese enterprises and projects abroad, and the economic landscape of Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Letters | A little more patience in crowded places please

People wait at a bus stop in Kwun Tong. Photo: Edmond So

Readers discuss how to do better in terms of etiquette online and offline, and the stock market craze.

Letters | Success of the Northern Metropolis will come down to leadership culture

The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in Lok Ma Chau Loop on April 22. Photo: Edmond So

Readers discuss the need for Northern Metropolis leadership development programmes, and structural reforms for Singapore.

Letters | Why transparency on pre-made meals would help Hong Kong dining

Tourists pack seafood restaurants in Sai Kung on May 2, during the Labour Day golden week holiday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Readers discuss diners’ expectations of transparency and accountability, teaching children not to waste food, and dog-friendly restaurants.

Letters | Clearer standards would strengthen urgent care in private hospitals

Li Zhijian (left) and Peng Hongying meet the media on July 5, after the Medical Council found paediatrician Sit Sou-chi guilty of professional misconduct in a case involving their child Yuanjian. Photo: Edmond So

Readers discuss care arrangements in private hospitals, a proposed cooling-off period for prepaid services, and innovation.

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