HONG KONG, 17 March. Pan-Democrat party opposition Lee Wig-tat wants to reduce the salary of Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung and four other under-performing ministers.

Hong Kong ministers earn HK$282,076; RP Presidents get only P50,000. (To which the former Singapore President Lee Kwan Yew was said to have quipped, “... but the Philippine President does not need a salary.”)

POPULATION. In China, more than 120 boys are born for every100 girls (vs. the natural ratio of 105 boys to 100 girls). This is explained by traditional preference for sons, modern desire for smaller families, and ultra sound scanning that identifies the sex of a fetus.

South Korea used to have a similar skewed sex ratio as China, but now heads towards balance because of female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal rights rulings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon quotes a Korean saying, “What is good for daughter must be good for son-in-law.”

INFORMATION. Internet watchdog Li Yizhng, minister of industry and information technology, warns Google of 'consequences' of flouting the law. Google said it would stop self-censoring its Chinese search engine and could close its offices in the mainland following a major cyber-attack it claims it had traced to the mainland.

China's state TV network, CCTV, adds Arabic and Russian transmissions to its English, French and Spanish channels. “Monopoly is the enemy of freedom,” railed the party journal, Quishi. No call for press freedoms at home, but China's indignation at not having a place among the world's media monopolists.

HERITAGE. Macau to demolish four buildings beside the Ruins of St. Paul's, a UNESCO world heritage site built in 1602. Historian Chan Su-weng says govt claims archelogical work excavation... but the site would eventually be “a car park or residential tower with undergound parking spaces.” Sounds familiar?

The Central Market building, a 1960's Streamlined Moderne architecture, will get face lift. Conservationists are aghast at the screws nailed on the historical building to hold up the promotional tarpaulin. RP's problem is not the screws, but loose screws of some of our planners.

EDUCATION. Four primary schools face closure because of low enrollment. Hong Kong gov't requires minimum 16 students per class. Dep Ed, where classes overflow to 60 and beyond, would like this kind of problem.

SECURITY. Yai Baojian, fleet commander in the South China Sea Fleet, allays concerns that two new warships escorting UN food aid in piracy-infested waters project China's blue water navy.

So long as they stay in Somalia waters, away from Panganiban reef.

We could defuse the controversy over the Spratleys with just one preposition... call the area South of China Sea.

NICHE MARKETING FROM ROOF OF THE WORLD. The Green Olive beer uses Tibetan barley and 5100 Glacier Mineral Water sells at three times the price of other mineral water. The water comes from the spring of Dangylong country, 170 kms. north of Lhasa. Mas malasa.

STRAITS TALKS. Beijing and Taipei approved broader economic accord allowing cooperation in banking, brokerages and insurer's daily operations and letting companies on both sides invest in each other. Feedback: jaz@mb.com.ph