John Lee Ka-Chiu and Hong Kong Key Officials Appointed by Beijing

On June 19, Beijing officially appointed John Lee Ka-chiu as the sixth Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with 26 key officials serving as the cabinet of the new government. The incoming leader John Lee and his cabinet will take office on July 1.

In June 2020, Beijing imposed the Hong Kong security law without any accountability nor transparency. In response to that, the US imposed sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials, including the Chief Executive designate John Lee, the Security Chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, the Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-kee and the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai.

In the past few years, Hong Kong has experienced the democracy movement against dictatorship, especially the city-wide protest against the extradition bill and the opposition to the controversial national security law.

As the first Chief Executive with police force background and his support for the violent crackdown on political unrest, John Lee’s appointment reflects that Beijing is expected to assign more officials to the Hong Kong Government who advocate violence, dirty cop and national security law. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has transformed Hong Kong into a typical mainland city.

After a century of development, Hong Kong earned the title Pearl of the Orient. However, after the handover in 1997 until the anti-extradition bill movement in 2019, Pearl of the Orient has been losing its charm. Hong Kong a once free society that was loved and admired is falling apart. Freedoms of press, expression, assembly and religion, once guaranteed by the Basic Law, has now been overturned by the national security law. The law also undermined Hong Kong’s judicial system, which is the cornerstone of Hong Kong’s rule of law and status as an international financial, trade and logistics center, as well as a center for international legal and dispute-resolution in the Asia-Pacific region.