As we enter a second year under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries are seeing infection surges and mounting deaths. A key element in countering the spread of the virus is contact tracing to identify the source of infections following t...

Early on Wednesday morning, around a thousand police arrested 53 pro-democracy figures, searched more than 70 premises in relation to last July’s unofficial primary poll to decide which candidates should stand in the now-postponed Legislative Council e...

Happy new year and welcome to The Pulse. 2020 has been a year that many will be happy to see go. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought great disruption and many losses, both personally and economically, all around the world. We’ve all had to adapt to new...

Hello and welcome to The Pulse. And from all of us here, best wishes to you for this holiday season. There are still a few days left, but so far 2020 has been a year unlike any other in recent history- and that’s putting it mildy. Merriam-Webster’s onl...

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says the introduction of the National Security Law has been “remarkably effective in restoring stability”. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said last month that more ref...

The relationship between the media, the government and law enforcement has become increasingly volatile and tense since last year’s social unrest, even more so since the enactment of the National Security Law. Among the Incidents that have caused conce...

In her fourth Policy Address delivered last week, Chief Executive Carrie Lam dedicated a lengthy chapter to upholding “One Country, Two Systems” and stressed the need for constitutional order. She said that to fully implement the concept formulated by ...

On Wednesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivered her delayed Policy Address to a half-empty Legislative Council chamber. Opposition members had boycotted the session. The first part of the title of the Address “Striving Ahead” is a phrase frequently ...

As an African proverb goes, when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. Currently, Hong Kong is finding itself in the position of that grass. Starting this month, locally-made goods can no longer be exported to the United States with the label “...

Wednesday’s decision by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress makes it clear that Hong Kong must be governed by people Beijing considers to be patriots. The resolution, citing activities endangering national security, paved the way f...

Hello, and welcome to The Pulse. Unprecedented, extraordinary, mind-boggling - choose your own adjective for describing the American elections. From the distance of Hong Kong, another adjective might be confusing. Coming to think of it, it’s pretty con...

RTHK's English-language current affairs programme that takes "The Pulse" of Hong Kong ... and the world around it. "The Pulse" is presented by locally and internationally known journalist and writer Steve Vines. Its focus? The latest events and trend...

There is just 12 days to go before the United States Presidential election. It’s being billed as the most crucial election in US history, in terms of America’s own democracy, and its role in the world. This week, and in the coming two weeks, we’ll be l...

The government is full of surprises these days. On Monday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam abruptly cancelled her annual Policy Address. It had been scheduled for Wednesday but will not be delivered until an unknown date in November. Instead of going to Leg...

At one point United States president Donald Trump called Covid-19 “a hoax” and said that “there is no pandemic and it’s just a flu”. As he has now discovered “the hoax” was capable of putting him in hospital. Trump, his wife Melania, and at least 27 pe...

The government says it delayed last month’s Legislative Council election due to Covid-19. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the decision was not political but a public health issue. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress then decided to...

Last month, China’s Coast Guard arrested 12 Hong Kong people as they attempted to flee on a speedboat to Taiwan. Barrister Cheung Yiu-leung to talk about the legal situation these 12 people may face in mainland courts. I should add that to get an alter...

When will we get a widely usable Covid19 vaccine? It’s been a big topic for discussion this week. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said it would be out by mid-October, not coincidently before the presidential election. That’s not what the US Cen...

Hello and welcome to a new series of The Pulse. Since we were last here the coronavirus has hardly gone away, instead it has a habit of surging and falling back, which is where we are now but despite this dip in infections the government launched a u...

The controversial National Security Law is now on the statute books but considerable uncertainty remains as to how it will be implemented. Just an hour before midnight on July 1st, the details of the legislation were finally revealed and gazetted, taki...

Some Communist Party supporters say most people in Hong Kong have no reason to worry about the human rights implications of the soon to be imposed National Security Law because it will affect only a “small number of people”. They say this while freely ...

As countries around the world are lifting lockdown measures, a second wave of Covid-19 cases has emerged in Beijing. In the past few days, the capital has recorded more than 200 new cases and locked down more than 30 communities. Once again, this outbr...

On June 12th last year, the controversial Fugitive Offenders amendment bill, better known as the extradition bill, was scheduled for a second reading in Legco. A general strike was called on the day. Thousands of protesters gathered outside the govern...

The Chief Executive Carrie Lam and a group of legal and security officials have just come back from meetings in Beijing to discuss the proposed national security legislation with vice-premier Han Zhen and other officials. Lam said the central authoriti...

HK National Security Law discussion: Exco non-official member, Ronny Tong & last governor Chris Patten