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Western multinationals and native tycoons revealed newspaper adverts on Monday congratulating John Lee on changing into Hong Kong’s subsequent chief, following a rubber-stamp choice course of condemned by critics as anti-democratic.
Lee, 64, a former safety chief who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy motion, was anointed the enterprise hub’s new chief on Sunday in a near-unanimous vote by a small committee of Beijing loyalists.
He was the only candidate within the race to succeed outgoing chief Carrie Lam at a time when Hong Kong is being remoulded in China’s authoritarian picture.
Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, two newspapers that reply to the workplace which units Beijing’s Hong Kong coverage, had been full of adverts on Monday from main corporations and enterprise figures praising Lee’s choice.
The bulk had been from Chinese language and Hong Kong companies in addition to group organisations.
The “Huge 4” accountancy corporations — KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC — had been amongst western multinationals inserting adverts, as had been metropolis service Cathay Pacific and conglomerates Swire and Jardine Matheson.
Messages had been additionally carried by Hong Kong’s household tycoon-dominated property giants, together with Solar Hung Kai and Henderson Land Improvement.
Western companies have discovered themselves in an more and more precarious place in Hong Kong, particularly as geopolitical tensions have risen with China.
Many have embraced progressive political causes in western markets, such because the anti-racism Black Lives Matter motion, same-sex equality and ridding provide chains of labour abuses.
However they often keep away from any criticism of China’s insurance policies in direction of hotspots like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan.
Some corporations similar to HSBC, Customary Chartered, Swire and Jardine Matheson publicly backed Beijing’s nationwide safety legislation, which was imposed on Hong Kong after 2019’s democracy protests to curb dissent.
Can Hong Kong reopen?
The elevation of Lee, who’s below US sanctions, locations a safety official in Hong Kong’s prime job for the primary time after a tumultuous few years for a metropolis battered by political unrest and economically debilitating pandemic controls.
Regardless of town’s mini-constitution promising common suffrage, Hong Kong has by no means been a democracy, the supply of years of protests because the 1997 handover to China.
After the 2019 rallies, Beijing responded with a crackdown and a brand new “patriots solely” political vetting system that eradicated town’s as soon as outspoken political opposition.
Lee confronted no rivals and gained 99 p.c of the votes forged by the 1,461-strong committee that picks town’s chief — roughly 0.02 p.c of town’s inhabitants.
Beijing hailed the method as “an actual demonstration of democratic spirit”.
European Union international coverage chief Josep Borrell countered that the choice course of was a “violation of democratic rules and political pluralism”.
Lee, a former police officer, has vowed to strengthen Hong Kong’s nationwide safety and combine town additional with the mainland.
He needs to reboot town’s financial system and slowly reopen its pandemic sealed borders at a time when rivals have moved to residing with the coronavirus.
However it’s unclear how he can try this given China has doubled down on its strict zero-Covid technique.
On Monday morning, Lam met her successor Lee and each gave quick speeches stressing that they’d put together for an orderly transition between their administrations.
Lee, who takes over on July 1, was Lam’s safety chief after which her deputy.
He was requested by reporters whether or not Hong Kongers might criticise his administration or danger being arrested for “speech crimes” like dozens of democracy activists in recent times.
Lee took umbrage to that description.
“I feel you might be very fallacious to explain that folks at the moment are charged merely due to their expressed opinions,” he stated.
“Persons are delivered to courtroom due to the suspicion towards them and their actions contravening the legislation,” he added. “It’s their motion.”
Lee stated his first port of name could be China’s prime businesses in Hong Kong — the Liaison Workplace, the nationwide safety committee, the international ministry’s workplace and the Folks’s Liberation Military garrison.
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