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China’s pick for next Hong Kong chief vows to protect global hub
“Hong Kong must maintain its character of being an international metropolis,” said former chief secretary John Lee at a press briefing on Saturday.
Hong Kong’s leading candidate for the city’s top job pledged to maintain the financial hub’s international competitiveness and stressed his loyalty to China, as he formally kicked off his campaign after winning Beijing’s sole backing for the race.
“Hong Kong must maintain its character of being an international metropolis,” said former chief secretary John Lee at a press briefing on Saturday. “Hong Kong must expand its international connectivity, establish a more favorable business environment, uphold the value of inclusion, diversity and openness, and further strengthen its competitiveness.”
The city’s vitality lies in its role as a link between China and the rest of world, said Lee, vowing to strengthen that gateway function. The former second-highest ranked government official in Hong Kong said he joined the chief executive race out of loyalty to China, love for the city and a sense of responsibility to its people.
“Loyalty is the basic requirement,” he said. “The chief executive must be a patriotic person.”
China’s cabinet approved Lee’s resignation from his government post on Thursday, clearing a path for the former police officer to outline his vision for city ahead of the May 8 small-circle vote. The next chief executive will take office on July 1, the halfway mark in Beijing’s 50-year pledge to preserve the city’s liberal financial and political systems.
Hong Kong’s tycoons threw their support behind Lee on Thursday, in their latest show of loyalty to China. Still, Beijing’s backing of a staunch national security proponent has raised concerns President Xi Jinping plans to prioritize tightening security in the former British colony over rebuilding the city’s status as an international financial hub.
Hong Kong has maintained some of the world’s strictest travel and social distancing curbs during the pandemic, which have been heavily criticized by business leaders and caused an exodus of foreigners in recent months.
The city has insisted on China’s Covid Zero policy at a time when global rivals such as Singapore and London are opening up. Lee’s candidacy comes weeks after outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam loosened travel restrictions to a one-week hotel quarantine for incoming residents and permitted most infected people to quarantine at home.
Lee didn’t give details on how he plans to strengthen the city’s international status and connections. While he is widely considered as lacking in knowledge of and connections in the finance and business sectors, he said this would instead allow him to make policies that are “fair and just.”
“I don’t have any baggage,” he said. “My primary concern is the overall interest, instead of the interest of any certain sector.”
Lee’s role overseeing the city’s unpopular Covid isolation camps, where asymptomatic residents have been housed, has stoked fears Hong Kong could reverse that progress and adopt a mainland-style Covid Zero strategy under his leadership. Across the border, outbreaks are stamped out with compulsory mass testing drives and citywide lock downs, something Hong Kong has avoided.
The next chief executive will face pressure to restore business confidence, handle an aging society, address the city’s affordable housing crisis and manage the pandemic. Possible big ticket agenda items include passing more security legislation to ban sedition and the theft of state secrets, and a possible fake news law.
Candidates in the election have until April 16 to announce their plan to challenge Lee, and secure 188 votes from the some 1,500 mostly Beijing loyalists who pick the city’s leader. If Lee runs unopposed it will mark the first time in two decades Hong Kong has presented a single candidate.
