As a close neighbor and important partner, China is willing to work with South Korea to deepen bilateral cooperation and strengthen the strategic cooperative partnership, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun at a press conference on Wednesday.

When responding to questions about the potential impact of the upcoming ruling by South Korea's constitutional court on the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol on bilateral relations, as well as the informal APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting scheduled for this autumn amid South Korea's ongoing domestic political turbulence, Guo said, "We have taken note of relevant reports. As we have emphasized repeatedly, China adheres to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and does not comment on the domestic affairs of other countries. We believe the South Korean people have the wisdom and capability to properly address their domestic issues." 

Given the South Korea's constitutional court is scheduled to announce its ruling on the impeachment case of President Yoon on Friday, large-scale political rallies and protests will be held across the country during and after the ruling. There is also a possibility of extreme incidents occurring,said the Chinese Embassy in South Korea in its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

The embassy reminds Chinese citizens in South Korea and Chinese tourists visiting South Korea to closely monitor the local situation and security conditions, and to effectively enhance their risk awareness. They should maintain a distance from local political gatherings, refrain from participating, lingering, or observing, and avoid publicly expressing or sharing political opinions, said the embassy, adding that it is also advisable to minimize verbal or physical conflicts with local residents.

Additionally, the embassy said that Chinese citizens and tourists should pay attention to police announcements regarding security alerts and traffic control information, plan their travel itineraries reasonably, and avoid going to or approaching sensitive areas and crowded places.

A compilation of discourses on improving Party conduct by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has been published by the Central Party Literature Press.

Compiled by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, the book features nine themes, bringing together 299 excerpts extracted from over 130 of Xi's important speeches and written works from November 2012 to February 2025. Some of these works have been made public for the first time.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core formulated and has been implementing the eight-point decision on improving conduct, leading to significant improvements in Party conduct, social morality and individual virtues.

Xi's discourses in this regard are of great significance for consistently and sustainably improving Party conduct, exercising Party self-governance with the spirit of reform and strict standards, and ensuring that the Party remains the strong leadership core in building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

A total of 25,320 sci-tech volunteers have registered at the Beijing Science and Technology Popularization Volunteer Service Team, collectively contributing over 310,000 service hours, as revealed during a volunteer launch event on March 3. 

The Beijing Science and Technology Popularization Volunteer Service Team, founded in 2012, saw its 220 sub-teams release nearly 300 science popularization projects, with over 10,000 volunteers involved in more than 100,000 service hours in 2024.

The 2025 Beijing Sci-Tech Popularization Volunteer Service Week kicked off ahead of the "Lei Feng Day," an annual event commemorated on March 5 aimed at celebrating the life and spirit of the young soldier who devoted his spare time and money to helping the needy. Science "Lei Fengs" will carry out a series of sci-tech popularization activities to make science more accessible and relatable.

The event also saw the launching of a "Smiling Beijing" volunteer service brand. The brand will feature six key application scenarios, including the professional science popularization service, science museum service, science popularization events, targeted service for key groups, and grassroots social governance supporting.

Five individual volunteers, five organizations, five projects, and three community service hubs were honored as 2024's standout contributors. One of the highlights was the award-winning team project "Touching the Sci-Tech Frontiers, Experiencing the Innovation" led by volunteer Zheng Tianlong. This young team, averaging 29 years old, leverages Beijing's key industrial plans like new energy, AI and bio-medicine to transform advanced technologies into accessible knowledge, benefiting over 300,000 people and creating a replicable model.

"Through a series of diverse and innovative science outreach initiatives, we aim to nurture a passion for science in more people and ensure the benefits of technological progress reach every household," emphasized an official from the Beijing Association of Science and Technology (BAST). He added that BAST will further leverage the roles of scientific workers and science popularization volunteers to innovate science popularization concepts, enrich the content and forms of science popularization, and strengthen public science popularization infrastructure construction throughout the city. They will play an irreplaceable role in advancing the construction of Beijing as a science and technology innovation center and achieving the goal of a strong technological nation.

With an extensive coastline, China is turning to the vast ocean to bolster food security by building modern marine ranches.

The construction of marine ranches, dubbed "blue granaries" in the vast blue ocean, highlights the nation's efforts to diversify food supplies. With more investment and innovative technologies, China's marine ranching industry is playing a role in strengthening food security.
With an extensive coastline, China is turning to the vast ocean to bolster food security by building modern marine ranches.

The construction of marine ranches, dubbed "blue granaries" in the vast blue ocean, highlights the nation's efforts to diversify food supplies. With more investment and innovative technologies, China's marine ranching industry is playing a role in strengthening food security.
In recent years, marine ranching has gained momentum along China's coast. In 2024, the city of Shanwei, in the southern province of Guangdong, invested more than 2 billion yuan (about 279 million U.S. dollars) to build eight marine ranches as well as cold chain and sales facilities.

To date, China has built more than 180 national-level marine ranches. The eastern province of Shandong ranked top with 71 national-level marine ranches, accounting for 38 percent of the country's total, said Zhang Jiandong, head of the Oceanic Administration of Shandong Province.

SMART AQUACULTURE

The technological advances, including automated feeding and underwater imaging systems, have transformed the aquaculture industry.

As the spring aquatic farming season started recently, Liu Yulei started his work on a marine ranch with eight giant aquaculture cages located 42 nautical miles off the coast of Yantai.
Each cage, 68 meters long and wide, could enclose 94,000 cubic meters of seawater, providing an optimal environment for 1 million fish with an annual fish catch of 1,000 tonnes.

"The fish farm is built here with Class I water quality and suitable temperature and salinity," Liu said. "With strong currents moving at 1.5 meters per second, the water in the cage could be completely refreshed within dozens of seconds, much more frequently than in traditional aquaculture facilities."

Modern technology has made fish farming more efficient. "Work on the marine ranch is busy but far easier than traditional fish farming. Only four workers can oversee a cage," Liu added.

Each giant cage is equipped with advanced sonar, lidar and binocular vision systems that allow workers to monitor the fish population, distribution and health, equipment, water quality, hydrology, and meteorological conditions in real time.
"We used to lack proper feeding knowledge, which led to excessive food waste accumulating on the seabed. Now, with scientific breeding, we have significantly improved both quality and output while also protecting the marine environment," said Luan Jianguo from another marine ranch off Changdao Island of Yantai.

A local fishing company purchases juvenile fish of certain sizes from local seafood farmers. The partnership means a faster return on investment, lower financial risks, and a larger seafood production with better quality.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Marine ranching also creates new business opportunities as some ranches offer travel services to tap into the consumer market better.

Off the coast of Yantai's Laishan District, the "Genghai No. 1" ecological marine ranch complex integrates aquaculture and tourism facilities to generate additional revenues.
On weekends, tourists visit the complex for an immersive marine experience. On the main deck, visitors can engage in interactive activities such as a "deep-sea elevator" simulation using VR and AR devices. They can also participate in recreational fishing and enjoy the sea view.

"We provide 71 sea-view hotel rooms, and guests can also enjoy freshly caught seafood at our canteen," said Yan Haidong, deputy general manager of Shandong Ocean Harvest Corporation, which operates the complex.

Low carbon is also at the core of the complex's operation. "Our total installed solar and wind power capacity is 426 kW, with power generation of approximately 500,000 kWh annually," Yan added.

A group of postgraduate students from the University of Malta experienced traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments, including acupuncture, cupping and Gua Sha therapies at the Mediterranean Regional Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine (MRCTCM) in Paola, southeastern Malta, on Sunday.

During the event, Tang Limei, a member of the 20th Chinese medical team for Malta, delivered a lecture on acupoint massage techniques and guided students through hands-on practice.

Following demonstrations by the Chinese medical team, students performed Baduanjin, a traditional form of Chinese aerobic exercise, in the MRCTCM garden. Before leaving, each student crafted a fragrant sachet to take home as a keepsake.

"From acupuncture to cupping, from Baduanjin to acupoint massage, these are techniques you can incorporate into daily life," said Josh Wiebe, one of the students, after receiving acupuncture and cupping therapy. Having undergone TCM treatment before, Wiebe emphasized its effectiveness in relieving pain and muscle stress.

Nour Nasserallah, who tried cupping therapy on her back, described the experience as fascinating. "We learned about therapeutic methods that have been used for thousands of years," she told Xinhua, adding that she would consider TCM in the future if she felt unwell.

Since its establishment in 1994 through cooperation between the Chinese and Maltese governments, the MRCTCM has hosted 20 Chinese medical teams comprising over 100 physicians, providing TCM treatment to approximately 250,000 Maltese patients.

In response to Australian defense department's recent claim that an Australian air force patrol aircraft experienced an "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction with a Chinese Air Force aircraft in the South China Sea, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said that Australia deliberately provoked and infringed upon China's rights in the South China Sea on February 11, and then falsely accused China, spreading misleading narratives. China firmly opposes this and has lodged serious protests with Australia.

While Australian military aircraft could have taken the main routes in the South China Sea, they chose to intrude into another country's territory. China's actions to drive it away are completely reasonable, legal, and beyond reproach. China's actions are a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security, Zhang said in a statement published by the ministry on Friday.

We urge Australia to abandon its reckless and opportunistic fantasies, to strictly restrain the actions of its frontline naval and air forces, and not to act as a follower, stirring up trouble in the South China Sea to the detriment of others and itself, said Zhang.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on Thursday that the Australian military airplane deliberately intruded into China's airspace over Xisha Qundao without China's permission. Such move violated China's sovereignty and undermined China's national security.

The Chinese side took legitimate, lawful, professional and restrained measures to expel the airplane. China has lodged serious protests with Australia and urged it to stop infringing on China's sovereignty and making provocations and stop disrupting peace and stability in the South China Sea, said Guo.

China hopes that the Gaza ceasefire arrangements between Israel and Hamas will be effectively implemented, paving the way for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Saturday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar after attending the Munich Security Conference.

The two sides exchanged views primarily on the situation in Gaza. Sa'ar elaborated on Israel's position.

Wang pointed out that the Palestinian issue is at the core of the Middle East issue. He emphasized that violence for violence will only lead to a new vicious cycle and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza must be brought to an end as soon as possible.

Wang expressed hope that the ceasefire arrangement will be effectively implemented, laying the foundation for achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.

He also underscored that the fundamental solution to the Middle East issue lies in implementing the two-state solution, which could ultimately enable a peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel, and foster friendly exchanges between the Arab and Jewish peoples.

China remains committed to upholding justice and will continue to play a constructive role in seeking a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the Palestinian issue, Wang said.

On China-Israel relations, Wang noted that the Chinese and Jewish peoples share a long history of exchanges. Eighty years ago, during the fight against fascism, the two sides demonstrated mutual sympathy, supported each other, and forged a deep friendship, he said.

Over the past 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China-Israel relations have made significant strides, with pragmatic cooperation steadily advancing across various fields, Wang added.

He stressed that China views the development of its relations with Israel from a long-term perspective and stands ready to work with Israel to further advance the China-Israel innovative comprehensive partnership.

Sa'ar expressed gratitude to the Chinese people for sheltering Jewish refugees during World War II and appreciated the contributions of Chinese workers in recent years who, despite the challenges of conflict, have supported Israel's development.

Israel holds high expectations for Israel-China relations, Sa'ar said, adding that the country will continue to uphold the one-China policy, and is willing to maintain dialogue and communication and advance cooperation across various fields with China. 

When asked to comment on the US State Department's recent update of the fact sheet on US-Taiwan relations by removing the statement that the US "does not support 'Taiwan independence'," Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said that the move represents a serious regression in the US position on the Taiwan question and severely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués. 

It interferes violently in China's internal affairs and sends seriously wrong signals to the separatist forces for "Taiwan independence," only to jeopardize peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, said Zhu. 

We urge the US to immediately correct its mistake, genuinely uphold the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and handle Taiwan question with utmost caution, Zhu said. She also warned the DPP authorities that seeking independence by soliciting US support is doomed to fail.

Responding to an inquiry on the US State Department's recent updating the fact sheet on its relations with Taiwan island by removing the previous statement that the US "does not support 'Taiwan independence,'" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that the revision of the fact sheet represents a serious regression in its stance on the Taiwan question. 

The move severely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, seriously breaching international law and the basic norms of international relations. It sends a seriously wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, constituting another example of the US stubbornly adhering to the erroneous policy of "exploiting Taiwan question to contain China," said Guo, urging the US to immediately correct its mistake and handle the Taiwan question with the utmost caution.

There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is a part of China. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is a widely recognized consensus in the international community and a fundamental principle of international relations. It is also a solemn commitment made by the US in the three China-US joint communiqués. History cannot be altered, facts cannot be denied, and right and wrong cannot be distorted, said Guo.

"We urge the US to immediately correct its mistake, genuinely uphold the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and handle Taiwan question with utmost caution. The US must stop exploiting Taiwan question to contain China, stop upgrading substantive US-Taiwan island relations, stop supporting Taiwan's attempts to expand its international space, and stop condoning and supporting 'Taiwan independence', in order to avoid causing further serious damage to China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," said Guo.

The US President Donald Trump and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk has been directing fire at 63-year-old USAID since early February as they began their efforts to shrink the US federal government.

Thousands of USAID employees were asked to take "paid leave" under Trump administration's plan. On February 7, a US federal judge ruled to suspend the "paid leave" plan, and on February 13, the suspension was extended for another seven days.

Official data shows that in the fiscal year 2023, USAID is an agency with approximately 10,000 employees, two-thirds of whom work overseas. The agency has offices in over 60 countries and regions, with operations spanning more than 100 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. How did such an agency develop? Why does its existence spark intense debates in the US political landscape? What are the true purposes and practices of this agency that claims to focus on "humanitarian" and "development assistance"?

To answer these questions, the Global Times presents a series to outline the history, the funding chains and complex controversies behind the agency. In the first installment, by narrating the establishment process and historical role of USAID, we will analyze what purposes does it serve for the US, and how it has gradually evolved into a large entity with over 10,000 employees worldwide. In the second installment, we will uncover how USAID has used foreign aid for over half a century to carry out ideological infiltration and so-called "democratic reforms" in developing countries, thereby serving the geopolitical interests of the US.

Born for 'cold war'

According to a report updated on the website of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for the US Congress on January 6, USAID's workforce totals more than 10,000, with approximately two-thirds of them serving overseas. The agency maintains more than 60 country and regional missions.

USAID was established by former US president John F. Kennedy in 1961 and was designed to "counter the influence of the then-Soviet Union during the Cold War and to run various foreign assistance programs," according to an NBC News report on January 5.

In the early days after the establishment of USAID, during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the agency heavily focused on top-down macro-economic reforms and public administration in key partner countries. The US was virtually alone as a major bilateral donor, and private capital flowing to the developing world was quite little, giving Washington disproportionate influence and impact as developing countries found themselves sometimes squeezed by the harsh realities of Cold War geopolitics, said an overview of the agency published on The Foreign Service Journal in November 2021 to mark the 60th anniversary of USAID.

During the Nixon administration, the Vietnam War and the rise of US-backed military governments in Latin America led to growing public dissatisfaction with foreign aid programs. The US Congress passed the "New Directions" legislation, marking a shift in USAID's approach and somewhat countering calls for the agency's abolition.

The Reagan administration marked the next turning point - impacted by the Cold War, foreign aid budgets surged dramatically, and USAID made significant investments in health, becoming a leader in global child survival initiatives, according to The Foreign Service Journal article.

USAID encountered some turbulence in the 1990s.

John Norris, who had served in a number of senior roles in government, international institutions, and nonprofits and is the author of The Enduring Struggle: The History of the U.S. Agency for International Development and America's Uneasy Transformation of the World, said that "this decade is perhaps the most tumultuous in USAID history."

According to an article by Norris, published in 2014, which the Global Times found on the media platform Devex, after former US president Bill Clinton took office in 1993 after the end of the Cold War, both the US State Department and Congress sought to significantly reduce the USAID budget, directing more resources toward domestic affairs.

In April 1997, in part to respond to congressional critics who wanted to radically restructure or abolish USAID, the Clinton Administration proposed a foreign affairs reorganization that included absorption of the functions of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the US Information Agency into the State Department. The agreement with Congress allowed USAID to remain a separate statutory agency with its own appropriation, but with the Administrator reporting to and under the direct authority and foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State. Congress approved legislation authorizing this approach in the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, which was signed into law on October 21, 1998, according to another CRS report updated in January 2015.

Despite this, USAID in the following years could only be described as having "barely survived," according to Norris, with its budget being cut, core functions being eliminated, and a significant number of employees being laid off.

According to the article by Norris in 2014, USAID closed more than 26 missions in countries that had either graduated from the need for aid or were simply bad partners - the first reduction in the number of countries receiving US assistance since the Marshall Plan.

Between 1995 and 2000, the agency's workforce shrank by 29 percent, with the number of directly hired employees being only half of what it was 20 years earlier, and at least one-third of the remaining employees at nearing retirement age. It was also during this time that USAID began to outsource a significant amount of its work.

By the early Bush administration, USAID was still reeling from the struggles of the previous decade. The aftermath of the September 11 attacks brought a surge of resources and personnel, along with complex missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. These missions often reminded the public of the experiences in Vietnam. As former USAID official James Kunder was quoted as saying in the CRS report in 2021, "The hard lesson from both Afghanistan and Iraq was that development programs are not a good substitute for an effective diplomatic and military strategy."
Every 3/5 dollars of foreign aid was distributed through USAID

The US claims itself the world's largest donor of foreign aid. So how much does it actually spend on foreign aid?

According to data from the US government's official foreign aid statistics website, cited by the Pew Research Center in a report on January 6, the US government disbursed a total of $71.9 billion in foreign aid in the fiscal year 2023, which accounts for 1.2 percent of the total federal expenditure that year ($6.1 trillion).

In fiscal year 2023, USAID distributed nearly $43.8 billion in aid, about three of every five foreign-assistance dollars, according to the Pew Research Center.

In terms of aid sectors, the aforementioned $71.9 billion was primarily spent on "economic development" (27 percent of the total), "health" (22.3 percent), "humanitarian aid" (21.7 percent), and "peace and security" (14.2 percent). However, the Pew Research Center also states, "the categories can be somewhat opaque and the lines between them blurry." For example, of the approximately $15.9 billion allocated for "macroeconomic foundation for growth," $14.4 billion was direct monetary support to the Ukrainian government amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

What do Americans think about their country's foreign aid? According to the Pew Research Center, opinions among Americans regarding the effectiveness and desirability of foreign aid have been "split" for a long time.

In an online survey in March 2023, only one-third of 11,004 American respondents said that US foreign aid "mostly benefits developing countries," while slightly more (37 percent) indicated that such aid "is both beneficial and harmful to these countries," and 8 percent stated that it "mainly harms developing countries."

A 2024 poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs also showed that half of 2,106 Americans support reducing the amount of foreign economic and military aid, with more than half favoring prioritizing domestic issues.

A pie in the sky

The split attitude of the American public is not without reason. "USAID's legacy is complex, deserving of neither hagiography nor damnation as is too often the case," read the abovementioned CRS overview article on USAID in 2021.

Diplomacy, development, and defense (3Ds), represented by the Department of State, the USAID, and Department of Defense, are the "three pillars" of the US national security strategy. Since its establishment, USAID has been the principal US agency to extend assistance to developing nations and those countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.

When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered an immediate suspension of the vast majority of USAID's existing foreign aid programs at the end of January, some officials from international charitable organizations expressed serious dissatisfaction. Daryl Grisgraber, humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam America, said the change was likely to be drastic. "It really will have potentially life or death consequences for millions of people," he was quoted as saying in an AFP report in early February.

However, at the same time, USAID faces allegations of corruption and waste domestically. The White House, on February 5, published a list of USAID projects, which it said were evidence of "waste and abuse," including a grant of $1.5m to an LGBTQ group in Serbia, $2.5m for electric vehicles in Vietnam, and $6m for tourism in Egypt.

"For decades, the USAID has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous - and, in many cases, malicious - pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight," the White House said.

USAID is also faced with skepticism and disappointment among recipient countries as many of its aid commitments have ultimately proven to be nothing more than "empty promises."

A typical example is USAID's assistance to Africa. In June 2013, then US president Barack Obama announced the ambitious "Power Africa" initiative during his visit to South Africa, promising to invest funds to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity in Africa by 2020. USAID became the primary US implementer of this initiative.

However, as of the end of 2020, the actual power generation capacity under "Power Africa" was only "4,194 megawatts," less than one-quarter of what the initiative had promised, showed the Power Africa 2020 Annual Report released by USAID.

In the Middle East, USAID's assistance to Afghanistan has been extensive but often controversial and lacking in follow-through. The USAID-funded Partnership Contracts for Health (PCH) program that ran from July 2008 to June 2015, for instance, faced much criticism and scrutiny due to its quality-related issues. In January 2016, a review letter from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to USAID said that, "not all [the health facilities being built under the program] had access to electricity and running water."

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the US pledged to provide substantial aid, including the "flagship projects" by USAID that encompassed the Caracol industrial park, along with a power plant and a new port. However, construction of the highly anticipated port was repeatedly delayed, "due in part to a lack of USAID expertise in port planning in Haiti," and, furthermore, "the industrial park was underdelivered," reported The Guardian in an October 2019 article titled "Haiti and the failed promise of US aid."

USAID has done similar "pie in the sky" talks globally.

USAID has openly admitted that about 80 percent of its expenditures was in the US.

Its 2022 progress report revealed that, only about 10.2 percent of all eligible funding was directed to local organizations. Moreover, a March 2023 investigation report released by UK-based group "Publish What You Fund" indicated that USAID employed a very loose definition of what constitutes a "local" actor. When applying a stricter definition, this figure might drop to a concerning 5.7 percent, according to the report.

Severe waste, profit repatriation, lack of transparency, broken promises… US foreign aid agencies like USAID have long faced criticism globally. "There was never any pretense of altruism," the Economist surmised about USAID in May 2023.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that 10 Hong Kong residents were still held captive in Southeast Asian countries, and HKSAR authorities will carry out thorough investigations and make every effort to secure their rescue.

Lee said before attending the Executive Council meeting that the HKSAR government is deeply committed to addressing cases of Hong Kong residents who are suspected of being lured to Southeast Asian countries, detained, and deprived of their freedom, with the city’s Security Bureau task force working tirelessly to rescue the victims.

Lee said that among the 28 Hong Kong residents imprisoned in Southeast Asian countries, 16 were rescued before the Security Bureau increased its efforts. An additional two individuals have been rescued since, leaving 10 Hong Kong residents still detained, according to RTHK, one of Hong Kong’s major broadcasters.

According to Lee, the HKSAR authorities will address the situation through four main measures: conducting thorough investigations, enforcing the law, enhancing cooperation with organizations and countries, and jointly combating related crimes to rescue victims.

Lee said on January 14 that the Security Bureau dispatched a task force to Thailand to collaborate with relevant authorities on joint investigations and assistance for Hong Kong residents reportedly detained in Southeast Asia under illegal circumstances. A total of 28 requests for help from residents believed to have been trapped in Southeast Asian countries and unable to leave since the second quarter of 2024.