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Time to end farcical levy on domestic helpers
The government's amendment of its poorly thought-out suspension of the levy on employers of foreign domestic helpers has not ended the confusion or the controversy.
The acknowledgement by authorities that bosses can, through timing the renewal of contracts with their maids carefully, get out of paying the HK$400-a-month fee for almost four years rather than the two years announced originally shows how ill-conceived the arrangements are. It is a further justification for ending the farcical situation and scrapping immediately a payment that should have been done away with four years ago.
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Tech war: ASML’s threat to expand outside the Netherlands is watched with interest in China
- As ASML threatens to expand outside the Netherlands, Chinese social media users are quick to point their finger at US-led export curbs
- Rather than China, the most likely reason behind ASML’s expansion plan is concerns over Dutch immigration policies, according to analysts
Plans by chip equipment giant ASML to expand outside the Netherlands are watched with great interest in China, where some social media users believe that Dutch export curbs on sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing machines are to blame for the company’s potential relocation.