Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary John Lee Resigns to Run For Chief Executive

Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, John Lee, announced his resignation as he seeks to run for chief executive in the city’s upcoming election.

“Having been in the government for over 40 years to serve the people of Hong Kong is a glory," said Lee during a press conference.

China’s Liaison Office told local elites in a series of meetings Wednesday that Lee, 64, had the central government’s blessing to become chief executive, according to media including the South China Morning Post, which cited people familiar with the matter. Lee resigned from his post Wednesday -- a necessary step for any official seeking higher office.

Lee’s solitary run in the May 8 vote would mark the first time in two decades a candidate has stood unopposed, reducing the votes of the 1,500 mostly Beijing loyalists on the city’s election committee to a rubber stamp for China. “The election of the CE is by now mainly for show,” said Steve Tsang, director of SOAS University of London’s China Institute. “Beijing has made sure it gets the candidate it wants.”

The former career police officer emerged as a potential candidate in June when he was named chief secretary, a post that’s launched two of the city’s four leaders into the top job. Prior to that, Lee served as outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s security minister, overseeing a clampdown on the pro-democracy opposition and implementing a Beijing-drafted national security law.

Lam announced Monday that she wouldn’t seek re-election after a tumultuous five-year term consumed by internal crises, unprecedented intervention by Beijing and increasing isolation from the West. Friction points included mass protests in 2019, the subsequent security law and Covid-19 policies that all but closed the city’s borders.

Hong Kong’s next leader will take office July 1, the halfway mark in Beijing’s 50-year pledge to preserve the city’s liberal financial and political systems. No chief executive has so far managed to complete two full terms, as they struggle to balance Beijing’s demand for control and citizens’ expectations for greater freedoms.

Lee will face pressure to restore business confidence, address a record population decline and articulate a clearer vision for the city’s virus strategy. His near-exclusive security background will also bolster concerns that Beijing will further tighten its grip on the city.

The former police officer was a staunch supporter of the extradition to China bill that sparked the 2019 protests, and was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020 for his role in curtailing political freedoms under the security law.

Lee’s agenda will likely include the passage of additional security legislation banning sedition and the theft of state secrets. He also said in November that the city was studying how to address what it deems false information in media reports, echoing Lam’s earlier comments that a “fake news” law might be needed.

The former police official has been a leading critic of the city’s once-freewheeling press. He accused the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper of using journalism to endanger national security, and has called journalists who use media work to pursue a political purpose “evil elements.” Lee has frequently written letters to dispute the coverage of foreign media outlets during his tenure, including Bloomberg News, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal.

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