As the financial hub strives to reinvent itself after several years of political turbulence, Hong Kong’s leader-in-waiting, John Lee, was endorsed for the city’s top post on Sunday by a committee loaded with pro-Beijing supporters.
On Sunday morning, Lee, the single contender, secured the votes of 1,416 members of a pro-Beijing election committee, giving him the requisite majority to be named Hong Kong’s next leader. Eight people voted ‘no support’ for him.
Following the ceremony, Lee stated that it was his ‘historic responsibility’ to lead Hong Kong into a new era, promising to unite the city and maintain Hong Kong’s worldwide standing as an open and competitive financial centre connecting China and the rest of the world.
Despite China’s vows to one day offer complete democracy to the former British colony, which returned to Chinese authority in 1997, few of the city’s 7.4 million residents have any role in choosing its leader.
A tiny number of demonstrators was prevented from entering the location due to strong security.
‘We believe we speak for many Hong Kong people in opposing this single-candidate election in the model of China,’ said Chan Po-ying, a protester with the League of Social Democrats, who was holding a banner demanding full democracy.
Lee, a former Hong Kong secretary for security, has exploited a national security statute to impose China’s tougher regime, arresting scores of democrats, disbanding civil society organisations, and shuttering liberal media sites like Apple Daily and Stand News.
The security legislation enforced by Beijing in 2020 has been criticised by Western nations, particularly the United States, as undermining liberties and the rule of law.
Lee, on the other hand, restated Beijing’s opinion that the law is required to restore stability following protracted pro-democracy rallies in 2019, avoiding queries about whether he would seek reconciliation with opposition democratic activists and those who have been imprisoned.
‘Protecting Hong Kong from internal and foreign dangers, guaranteeing its stability, and safeguarding our country’s sovereignty, national security, and development interests will continue to be of fundamental importance,’ Lee told reporters.
Some critics believe Lee’s efforts to relaunch Hong Kong globally may be hampered by US sanctions placed on him in 2020 for his role in ‘coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning individuals’ under the security law,’ according to Washington.
According to YouTube owner Alphabet Inc, the Lee campaign’s YouTube account was taken down to comply with US penalty laws.
Lee stated that one of his top priorities would be to increase housing supply in one of the world’s most expensive housing markets, as well as to improve policy efficacy by taking a ‘results-oriented approach’ to this long-standing issue.
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