[ad_1]
If all had gone in line with plan, John Lee would now be nearing retirement after an extended profession in engineering. As a substitute, the previous Hong Kong policeman and safety tsar stands on the cusp of changing into the territory’s subsequent chief government.
The anticipated appointment of Lee, 64, as Hong Kong’s fifth chief government for the reason that former British colony reverted to Chinese language sovereignty in 1997 was all however assured this week after the incumbent, Carrie Lam, introduced that she wouldn’t search a second five-year time period. Even earlier than Lee confirmed his want to interchange her, the Chinese language Communist social gathering’s representatives within the territory instructed a 1,500-seat, “patriots solely” election committee to again him within the Could 8 vote.
Assuming every part goes as scripted, Lee, who’s at the moment Hong Kong’s second highest rating official, might be sworn in on July 1. This falls exactly midway by way of the 50 years of “one nation, two techniques” autonomy that Beijing assured to Hong Kong. He’ll inherit a metropolis that has modified dramatically over current years, its beforehand strong freedoms and boisterous civil society decimated by the nationwide safety legislation imposed two years in the past by Chinese language president Xi Jinping.
Hong Kong’s standing as one of many world’s nice worldwide monetary centres additionally hangs within the steadiness, as Xi’s strict “zero-Covid” pandemic controls minimize it off from each the surface world and its Chinese language hinterland.
“John signifies the significance of safety and a secure atmosphere for Hong Kong,” says Ronny Tong, a member of the cupboard that advises Lam. He provides that had Beijing opted as a substitute to again Lam’s monetary secretary, Paul Chan, it will have indicated Xi’s administration was “placing monetary restoration on the forefront” of Hong Kong’s coverage agenda. Based on Tong, “John and Paul symbolize two fully completely different approaches.”
From a modest background, Lee excelled academically and earned a spot with the engineering college on the College of Hong Kong. However he by no means took it up, as a substitute becoming a member of the police pressure straight out of highschool in 1977. After that, Lee all however disappeared into the pressure for the higher a part of 40 years earlier than a late entry into politics wherein he rose to prominence as Lam’s safety secretary in 2017.
“He has been pretty low profile till just lately; individuals don’t know quite a bit about him,” says Lau Chi-pang, a professor at Lingnan College who sits on the election committee that may rubber-stamp Lee’s appointment.
In a metropolis the place official asset declarations typically reveal huge property portfolios and unique membership memberships amongst public servants, Lee has one condo in a comparatively quiet neighbourhood and belongs to a handful of police officer associations.
If it weren’t for 2 historic blunders by Lam that ended her hope of serving a second time period, Lee may need pale away right into a quiet retirement. Satirically, in mild of his imminent promotion, he was intently concerned in each. In 2019 Lam proposed laws that will have allowed Hong Kong residents to be extradited to mainland China if wished by the authorities there. As safety secretary, Lee lobbied prominently for the controversial invoice.
It proved to be a disastrous misreading of the general public temper, sparking the largest pro-democracy motion on Chinese language soil for the reason that 1989 Tiananmen Sq. protests. Mass protests ensued — together with one attended by an estimated 2mn of Hong Kong’s 7.5mn inhabitants. The invoice was reluctantly withdrawn by the federal government.
Then, after Covid-19 erupted out of central China in January 2020, Lam’s administration did not vaccinate sufficient of Hong Kong’s weak aged. When the territory’s beforehand efficient defences had been overwhelmed by the Omicron variant earlier this yr, greater than 8,000 individuals died in solely three months. By this time Lee had been promoted to chief secretary and performed a key position within the bungled response.
Finally Lee has been rewarded for serving to to crush the pro-democracy motion, correcting, in Beijing’s eyes, Lam’s first mistake. This was made simpler by the nationwide safety legislation bludgeon Xi handed him in June 2020. Lee has unapologetically deployed it towards pro-democracy legislators and activists, dozens of whom at the moment are in jail or exile. His promotion is a sign that Beijing views this course of as removed from over.
After the Trump administration sanctioned him, Lam and different senior officers for aiding and abetting Xi’s “degradation of Hong Kong’s autonomy”, Lee responded: “I don’t care . . . I scoff at [the sanctions]. I despise them.”
“Within the eyes of the central authorities John Lee might be relied on to maintain Hong Kong secure and secure from the challenges posed by overseas powers,” says Lau, the election committee member.
Whereas one pro-Beijing enterprise determine says that “understanding the ins and outs of the financial system isn’t what [Lee] is understood for”, he and different supporters argue that the chief executive-in-waiting can delegate financial and monetary decision-making to individuals who do. That means, Lee can proceed to deal with the safety and stability — Beijing type — that they consider is a prerequisite if Hong Kong is to emerge from its zero-Covid coma.
“It’s simple that economics isn’t John Lee’s energy,” agrees Ip Kwok-him, a cupboard member, who believes “he’ll lead the town nicely” regardless. Experience in economics and finance, in any case, isn’t what China is looking for in Hong Kong’s subsequent chief government.
primrose.riordan@ft.com, thomas.chan@ft.com, tom.mitchell@ft.com
[ad_2]
Source link