A ‘child-like’ idea

A great moment in the history of all-patriots lawmakers as one proposes a new way to boost Hong Kong’s ultra-low birth rate…

…Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker [Bill Tang] suggested that government should promote the idea that “babies are cute” and look like “mini” versions of their parents by showing images of infants around government offices.

“[C]ould the government add more baby photos as decorations for all offices? So that civil servants can see babies when they go to work, which will stop them from wanting to work overtime and instead go home to be with their wives,” he said in Cantonese.

Under Secretary for Labour and Welfare Jonathan Ho Kai-ming, responded by saying Tang’s recommendation was “very innovative.” He would discuss with the Civil Service Bureau to see if more baby photos could be displayed, the official said.

Meanwhile, in the US voters could today be choosing an administration that will include a health czar who is anti-vaccines, anti-fluoride in water and anti-pasteurization of milk. 

Some reading matters for an otherwise uneventful Tuesday…

Foreign Affairs on Xi Jinping’s ‘axis of losers’…

…Washington’s aim should be to make clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping how counterproductive and costly to Beijing’s interests these new relationships will turn out to be. That means effectively countering Iran, North Korea, and Russia in their own regions, thereby demonstrating to China that tethering itself to a bunch of losers is hardly a path to global influence.

…What truly binds the axis is not ideology but a common opposition to U.S. power and the international system it sustains—fueled by a belief that this power represents a mortal threat to their regimes’ interests, aspirations, and even survival.

ASPI Strategist looks at the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau’s problem with Chinese tourism…

China has already put Palau through a cycle of what it thought was economic inducement and punishment. Last decade, it ramped up tourism numbers to the country but then knocked them down again by revoking Palau’s status as an approved destination, punishing it for continued diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

…When tourists from China come, ‘they have these charter flights coming in, where a Chinese company owns a hotel in Palau, owns a tour company in Palau, owns the airplane that’s bringing them into Palau, so all this money that is being made from these tours is not trickling down to the local economy,’ says a former Palauan tour guide…

…Palauans have seen tourism drive inflation and expect that a renewed surge in arrivals from China will do the same again. ‘This kind of mass tourism will tend to push up the price of mass produce and local resources…,’ says the senior official. The price of giant coconut crabs, for example, was US$7 per pound before last decade’s tourism surge, the official says. Now it is US$60 per pound.

Plucky little Palau – population just under that of Discovery Bay  – also has an election today. The tiny republic has diplomatic relations with the Republic of China/Taiwan, so Beijing takes a keen interest. The foreign affairs spokesman recently urged the micro-state to make the ‘right decision’ on the matter.

WhatsOnWeibo reports on China’s crackdown on female-oriented erotic fiction…

Yunjian, a prominent author on Haitang, has been writing for over a decade, producing tens of millions of words. Her detention not only forces her to forfeit all the royalties earned over the past ten years—now labeled “illicit earnings”—but also means she faces time in prison. While “Rain Painted on a Sunny Day” acknowledged her sister’s “offense” in the post, she explained that the resulting heavy fines have left their family deeply in debt, struggling to make ends meet. After the post went up, many of Yunjian’s readers expressed heartbreak over her situation and began donating to help.