Hong Kong Policy Address A Buffet of Words

A record-long policy address with few highlights

Yesterday Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivered his policy address in the Legislative Council, which took him a record three hours and 22 minutes to deliver -- sitting down.

One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, compared this number to the statistics of runners in the 2023 Standard Chartered Marathon. It seems 377 runners were faster than Lee giving his speech.

CE supporters wore green ties and scarves

Another observation was that the pro-Beijing camp wore green neckties or scarves as a show of solidarity with the chief executive.

Some critics described the policy address as lacking focus, comparing it to an all-you-can-eat meal.

"It is like a buffet dinner, it needs a theme such as Tasmania Oyster or Argentinian steak to attract diners. If the investment theme is about everything, it is hard to attract investors," said Simon Lee, co-director of the International Business and Chinese Enterprise program at Chinese University.

Centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen described the policies for the welfare sector as "putting old wine into a new bottle."

"It seems like the city leader copied and pasted welfare measures proposed by different parties and NGOs to his policy address. You cannot see a well-designed strategy, with timetable and priorities, presented inside the blueprint," he said.

Tik says Lee's speech on welfare had no strategy

One policy that shows how out of touch the Lee administration is, is the attempt to boost the city's birthrate by promising parents of newborns will be given a one-off amount of HK$20,000 and would be prioritised for subsidised housing (as long as they don't make more than HK$62,000 a month).

Compare this proposal with Singapore, which is handing out the equivalent of HK$62,000.

Does Lee not know how much it costs to raise a family, or how much rent is these days? HK$20,000 is a drop in the bucket and will hardly push the birthrate up...

Forewarning of John Lee's Reign

Lam met with Lee today before holding joint press conference

Today incumbent Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor met with her successor John Lee Ka-chiu and then they held a joint press conference, but no questions were allowed to be asked.

He made a statement saying he will work on developing Hong Kong's economy, but how if the border to the mainland remains pretty much shut, and the city's own quarantine regulations have deterred airlines from resuming their flights at Hong Kong International Airport.

How Lee is going to rejuvenate the city's economy remains a complete mystery as he only mentioned it in his platform with no detailed plans, and no other candidates running against him to challenge him.

Chung says Beijing has picked incapable leader

Perhaps even worse is that Hong Kong's next leader is not really qualified to even lead the city, according to Chung Kim-wah, the former deputy head of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. 

"Lee has no experience in all the most important policy areas, such as economy, finance and foreign trade, or fields such as social welfare, housing, education, healthcare and labour. He has only been a cop," Chung said. "My fear is that under his rule, things will go wrong in every aspect of Hong Kong.

"Choosing Lee has chief executive shows Beijing doesn't mind picking a completely incapable person to do nothing but carry out its will," Chung added.

Ouch.

This morning's pro-Beijing newspapers harped on how Lee garnered 99 percent of the vote (not hard when you're the only candidate), but also it he was he who vetted every person in the almost 1,500-member Election Committee.

Ads praising Lee as the next HK leader

The same papers also had pages and pages of advertisements congratulating Lee on becoming the next Chief Executive. Some of the companies included Cathay Pacific, Swire, Jardine Matheson, KPMG, Deloitte, and PwC. Surely it was perhaps the best day in the past two years for the newspapers' advertising departments.

Another devastating assessment is from Chris Fraser, the former chair of the philosophy department at the University of Hong Kong. He described the election as "merely an elaborate public confirmation ceremony for a preordained appointee."

"To the millions who marched in the streets in 2019, the whole charade is little more than another waste of taxpayer money on a pointless ceremony demonstrating that the Hong Kong government will never be accountable to its own citizens," said Fraser, who is now at the University of Toronto.

All eyes are on Lee, who has given the appearance of jumping straight into work, with already an office and staff.