Lee Dismisses Absolute Poverty in HK

One of the rare occasions Lee smiles to promote Hong Kong

It's been one year since John Lee Ka-chiu became Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and what has he achieved in that time?

For one he is the face of Hello, Hong Kong, but sadly the permanent pained expression on his face has not motivated visitors to come to the city in droves as he and his government had hoped.

Last year at Lee's swearing-in ceremony with Xi

He seems confident that he can raise Hong Kong's global ranking which slipped from fifth to seventh place in this year's World Competitiveness Yearbook, which had previously won top spot in 2018.

However, as the political climate in the city deteriorates by the day, is it any wonder it will be an uphill challenge for Lee to even change people's perception of Hong Kong after the 2019 protests, the implementation of the national security law, shut down of Apple Daily, jailing over 10,000 people, and the departure of over 200,000 residents?

But he sounds like a broken record, reiterating what previous leaders have said when it comes to tackling serious issues like poverty and housing.

The Census and Statistics Department's latest numbers show that almost one-quarter of Hongkongers in 2020 or 1.6 million were facing poverty before taking into account government handouts.

Many elderly in Hong Kong are in poverty

While Lee claimed last year to have a poverty alleviation strategy, a recent survey had found less than 30 per cent of residents are satisfied with the government's measures.

Yet again the chief executive is studying how to define poverty.

"The poverty problem in Hong Kong is relative because absolute poverty does not exist in Hong Kong," Lee said. "But regardless of the statistical methodology used, it won't hinder the direction of the targeted measures in my policy address to tackle intergenerational poverty."

Why this constant need to define poverty when it's quite obvious when someone is in poverty by asking them how they manage to live day by day. Why does it have to be a numbers game. And for Lee to completely dismiss the possibility that absolute poverty exists in Hong Kong means he doesn't even recognise 1.6 million people exist.

When will Hong Kong get rid of cage homes?

Hong Kong is a wealthy city. Well it was before it spent billions on building the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, on police operations during the 2019 protests, propaganda exercises and so on. Imagine how say a few hundred million could help many people by building decent housing for the poor and helping them get back on their feet?

But no, the authorities don't want to admit there is poverty in Hong Kong and then by extension ignore one-quarter of the population.

This is Lee's attempt to sweep them under the carpet in order to get a good report card from Chinese leader Xi Jinping. 

Will be interesting to see what Xi says... better to have some concrete results, maybe, Mr Lee?