If all had gone in accordance with plan, John Lee would now be nearing retirement after a protracted 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 because the 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 switch her, the Chinese language Communist get together’s representatives within the territory instructed a 1,500-seat, “patriots solely” election committee to again him within the Could 8 vote.
Assuming the whole lot goes as scripted, Lee, who’s presently 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 sturdy 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 stability, as Xi’s strict “zero-Covid” pandemic controls reduce it off from each the surface world and its Chinese language hinterland.
“John signifies the significance of safety and a secure setting 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. In line with Tong, “John and Paul signify 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 drive straight out of highschool in 1977. After that, Lee all however disappeared into the drive for the higher a part of 40 years earlier than a late entry into politics during which he rose to prominence as Lam’s safety secretary in 2017.
“He has been pretty low profile till not too long ago; individuals don’t know loads 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 usually 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 light 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 may 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 most important pro-democracy motion on Chinese language soil because the 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 susceptible aged. When the territory’s beforehand efficient defences had been overwhelmed by the Omicron variant earlier this 12 months, 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.
In the end 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 “figuring out 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 manner, Lee can proceed to give attention to the safety and stability — Beijing type — that they imagine is a prerequisite if Hong Kong is to emerge from its zero-Covid coma.
“It’s plain that economics will not be 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 spite of everything, will not be what China is searching for in Hong Kong’s subsequent chief government.
primrose.riordan@ft.com, thomas.chan@ft.com, tom.mitchell@ft.com
