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As a former beat cop who rose to grow to be Hong Kong’s safety chief, John Lee is the one individual China’s leaders belief to run the town as their loyal lieutenant, analysts and insiders say.
Lee, 64, is anticipated to be anointed Hong Kong’s subsequent chief govt by a small committee on Sunday, the fruits of a choreographed, Beijing-blessed race with no different candidates.
His elevation caps a outstanding rise for a person whose police profession lifted him from a working-class household to the higher echelons of Hong Kong’s political institution.
It additionally locations a safety official within the metropolis’s prime job for the primary time, a person who performed a key function within the suppression of big democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent political crackdown.
Insiders say Lee’s unwavering dedication to that function received China’s confidence at a time when different Hong Kong elite have been seen as insufficiently loyal or competent.
“John Lee is the one which the central authorities is aware of one of the best, as a result of he was in fixed contact and interplay with the mainland,” pro-establishment lawmaker and outstanding enterprise determine Michael Tien advised AFP.
Lai Tung-kwok, Hong Kong’s safety minister earlier than Lee took the function, put it one other method.
“He’s a person who has stood the take a look at,” Lai advised AFP. “If he actually desires one thing completed, he’ll attempt his finest to deal with the obstacles.”
– ‘Platinum elevator’ –
Lee represents a sea-change from the 4 chief executives who’ve run Hong Kong since its 1997 return to Chinese language rule — all former enterprise figures or directors from the civil service.
Lee spent 35 years within the police earlier than leaping to the federal government in 2012, adopted by a swift rise to the highest by way of what native media have dubbed “a platinum elevator”.
However regulation and order remained his portfolio, serving within the Safety Bureau after which main it earlier than changing into the town’s quantity two official final 12 months.
Chien-yu Shih, an skilled on Chinese language safety points at Taiwan’s Institute for Nationwide Protection and Safety Analysis, stated he believed Beijing began listening to Lee after the 2019 democracy protests.
These big and generally violent rallies have been a well-liked expression of anger by Hong Kong residents at their lack of say in how their metropolis was run.
Demonstrations organised by college students, academics, unions, medics and even civil servants have been a few of the greatest Hong Kong had ever seen.
However the Chinese language authorities portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed plot run by “terrorists”, a stance Lee embraced.
“Beijing has been watching which political determine is prepared to observe their narrative,” Shih stated, including China’s leaders nonetheless mistrust Hong Kong’s civil servants.
– Flares and lengthy hair –
Lee, a Catholic, grew up poor in Sham Shui Po — to at the present time one in all Hong Kong’s most working-class districts — however made his option to an elite boys’ faculty run by Jesuits.
Peter Lai, a former banker and classmate, described him as a intelligent and trendy teenager who grew lengthy hair and wore flared trousers.
Lai stated he believed his outdated good friend could be chief for the town.
One other modern, who requested to not be named, was much less complimentary, describing Lee as extra of a dilettante who preferred “chasing after ladies and going to events”.
Most of his contemporaries went to school, however Lee turned down a suggestion to review engineering to hitch the police.
He later advised a pro-Beijing newspaper he was motivated by being bullied by neighbourhood hooligans.
Two former classmates gave a extra sensible cause — the police pressure provided a secure profession for Lee and his pregnant spouse Janet.
First son Gilbert was born quickly after commencement in 1978 whereas second son Jacky got here six years later.
Lee has not spoken a lot about his household and has dodged questions on whether or not they nonetheless maintain British nationality, one thing he renounced when he joined the federal government.
– Enterprise acumen? –
Given his safety background, it appears unlikely Lee — already sanctioned by america — will reverse Beijing’s marketing campaign towards dissent.
The place he’ll enter much less acquainted territory is the world of enterprise, an space the place Hong Kong is struggling.
Hong Kong, as soon as a vibrant, multicultural enterprise hub, has been reduce off internationally through the pandemic because it hews to Beijing’s strict zero-Covid technique.
Ex-security chief Lai stated he believed Lee had the “knowledge and religion” to stability China’s calls for that the coronavirus be stored at bay with sustaining the economic system.
He recalled how Lee’s nickname within the safety bureau was “Yip Man”, the title of a well-known Chinese language kung fu grasp but in addition a homophone in Cantonese for somebody who “asks about each web page”.
Danny Lau, a small enterprise affiliation chief, stated Lee was not a super candidate however that he would reserve judgement.
“I hope he can take into account Hong Kong’s worldwide competitiveness and doesn’t waste time on making legal guidelines unhelpful for the town’s economic system,” Lau advised AFP.
However others say Lee’s appointment confirms that China now places Hong Kong’s political safety forward of enterprise and livelihood points.
“Prior to now, China may compromise for some financial advantages,” Charles Mok, a former pro-democracy lawmaker now dwelling abroad, advised AFP.
“However now it appears Beijing desires its folks to really feel that the world is filled with threats and it’s solely secure to stay intently to the (Communist) Social gathering.”
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© Agence France-Presse
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