Mr Lee Goes to Beijing

Lee and his wife Janet are flying to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping

 

Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu flies to Beijing today on a four-day trip to receive the central government's blessing. Lee's wife Janet will come, along with his private secretary and press secretary.

Like everyone else, Lee and his entourage will have to undergo a strict quarantine for a few days with rigorous testing before they can meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Lee can't see anyone one not on the confirmed list of people.

Xi in HK for 20th anniversary in 2017

During his meeting with Xi, Lee will present his list of candidates to be included in his administration. It will be curious to see who is on it. Yesterday Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan Siu-chee was asked by the media if she would continue in her role in the next administration but she did not reply.

Beijing still can't confirm if Xi will come down to Hong Kong for the 25th anniversary of the handover for fears of a sudden flare up in the number of Covid-19 cases, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. 

If Xi is so concerned about this, how about swearing in Lee now and he'll just take over from July 1? 

But if Xi does come to Hong Kong, it will be the first time in over two years that he has left China since the pandemic began in December 2019. He will also be very well protected with some 10,000 police officers will be deployed and with the national security law in place, the chances of any kind of protest are next to nil.

Lee was sole candidate in elections this month

The Hong Kong government meanwhile is trying to devise numerous scenarios and adjusting Xi's schedule to make it as short as possible in case he only wants to come to the city for a few hours.

It is quite the intense logistics exercise when your boss has numerous demands but you don't know exactly what he wants, and neither does he...