Transcription:
Albert: Well, Hong Kong is interesting because it's not under China. However, Hong Kong still has a fairly independent judicial system, our own set of laws, which could be quite different from the laws in mainland China. And this particular case about electronic secrets, he not burned, et cetera, what we call alternative tobacco products. These have been approved by the Chinese government this year, or rather last year and implemented this year. In fact, from October this year, these products will be legalized or regulated in the mainland China. So anybody who apply and obtain the license can manufacture, sells and so on. These products, by the way, almost all alternative products in China are made in China. Hong Kong, as I said, has a very different system. And the government here in Hong Kong has decided to completely ban these products, again effective this year. So the question about outlook for next year, of course, we hope that Hong Kong government would revisit the subject matter and look at what others are doing, in particular mainland China, our sovereign state and our neighbor Taiwan. Why Taiwan? Because Taiwan is, of course part of China and also is predominantly Chinese. So if Hong Kong government want to use references, perhaps these two places jurisdictions could be very useful. So that's my hope that next year they will revisit this subject. It's very difficult to guess, but I would call irrational proposals to introduce even more draconian measures in Hong Kong. For example, Hong Kong already has the world's lowest smoking rates under 10%. I think it's eight or 9% in other European countries, typically double that. So we believe as consumers, there's really no need for further draconian measures. But what has been proposed is that they would like to have to fix a year in the future, say 2025 or whatever. And from that point onwards, any newborn persons will not be allowed to purchase tobacco, even when they become adults. Well, it's a very big aspiration to stem out smoking altogether. But one would question, why just tobacco smoking? There are so many vices, our daily vices, which are perfectly acceptable amongst adults, say gambling, say alcohol, et cetera, et cetera. So why just smoking? So that is a question that, as a consumer, would ask naturally. Secondly, of course, there were proposals to raise tax further. This is simply irrational, because the amount of illegal and controversial secrets seized by the government in Hong Kong this year is likely to be a few times higher than before. COVID I believe COVID has something to do with it, because people are moving from buying on the streets to buying online. And of course, illegal products would be easier and less risky for both sale and purchase online. And I believe that's why there has been a dramatic increase in the trafficking of these products. So any tax increase will just further worsen the problem.