China reshuffles Hong Kong top officials
(L-R) New Commissioner of Police, Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee Ka-chiu and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung pose for a photo with Chief Executive Carrie Lam after taking the oath of office in Hong Kong, Chi
China on Friday approved the promotion ofHongKong's security secretary John Lee to the chief secretary, while police chief Chris Tang will take Lee's position in what critics say will further tighten Beijing's security squeeze on the global financial hub.
The elevation of Lee, 63, a former police deputy commissioner, to the chief secretary, is the first time a security specialist has taken on the number two position in the territory sinceHongKong's handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
Other former chief secretaries have had extensive economic and social policy-making expertise.
"They have had distinguished performance in the government over the years and possess proven leadership skills," Chief Executive Carrie Lam,HongKong's leader, said in a statement. "I am confident that they are competent for their new posts and would rise to the challenges in serving the community."
Beijing's imposition of sweeping national security law inHongKongin June 2020 has put China's freest city on an authoritarian trajectory, with mass arrests of democratic campaigners, curbs on public assemblies and free speech.
The reshuffle could further empower security officials, critics say, who have faithfully implemented Beijing's new security regimen to strengthen control and clamp down on freedoms in the former British colony after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
"The promotion of John Lee and Chris Tang completes the swift and total transformation ofHongKonginto a police state," said Samuel Chu of theHongKongDemocracy Council.
Lam and Lee are expected to travel to Beijing for the Chinese Communist Party's centenary celebrations next week, local media reported.
Lee and Tang, 55, were among 11HongKongand Chinese officials sanctioned by the USgovernment last August for underminingHongKong’s autonomy and democratic processes after the enactment of the national security law.
That clampdown has seen mass arrests of democratic activists and politicians, and a freeze on the assets of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper on national security grounds that led to its abrupt closure this week.
Chinese andHongKongofficials say the national security law has restored stability and order toHongKong, maintaining that rights and freedoms aren't absolute.
One source who has worked with Lee said he is resolute, earnest and efficient but, as a career police officer, "doesn't have a natural feel for the politics of a highly-polarisedHongKong."