After weeks of speculation, the Chinese government named John Lee, a former top police officer, as Hong Kong’s future leader on April 8.
Hong Kong was once the sole Chinese-controlled region holding semi-democratic elections. They are no longer in use in Beijing. Instead of a genuine election, Hong Kong residents are instead treated to a lavish puppet performance. For this one-man “election,” the Hong Kong government has spent HK$228 million (US$29 million). There are “election” posters, and there is even a “election” “forum” with only Lee and no live audience. Lee published his policy agenda barely eight days before the May 8 “poll,” appealing to no one but Beijing.
During the 2019 demonstrations against an extradition law, Lee shown flagrant disdain for people’s safety as Hong Kong’s secretary for security—and therefore one of Beijing’s right-hand men in Hong Kong. Following the police assault on nonviolent protestors on June 12, Lee said, contrary to what millions of Hong Kong residents watched on live television, that the police had been “tolerant,” and that it was the protesters who had “violently” attacked the police, threatening their lives.
Lee has frequently protected the cops from prosecution. In response to popular requests for an independent inquiry of police violence, he argued that the existing complaints procedure – which is part of the Police Force – is sufficient. When asked why the elite police unit whose members appeared to have erased their badge numbers to avoid recognition, Lee responded that there was simply “no place on their outfit.”
This performance has earned him two promotions: first as chief secretary of the city, and now as chief executive. This appears to be at odds with Hong Kong public opinion polls, which routinely show that more than 80% of residents want an independent commission of investigation investigating police wrongdoing.
The appointment of an abusive former police official in Beijing raises fears of an extension of the city’s authoritarian tactics. In China, police chiefs controlled local administration, notably under Zhou Yongkang’s leadership as Minister of Public Security from 2002 to 2007. During this time, municipal governments made “stability maintenance” a key priority. Many of the administrative and technical social control tools put in place at the time laid the groundwork for today’s oppressive Chinese security state.
Concerningly, Lee is well-known for praising Beijing’s horrific mistreatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang under the cover of counter-terrorism, which Human Rights Watch said amounted to crimes against humanity. These harsh practices, according to Lee, are “worthy of consideration” for Hong Kong, which is facing a “rising” danger of “domestic terrorism.” Lee also promised to battle “fake news,” which is concerning given the government’ growing animosity toward media freedom in Hong Kong, and to enforce a second security law, Article 23, which would punish nonviolent activity such as contacting civil society groups abroad.
Beijing has actively undermined Hong Kong’s freedoms since imposing the city’s first security statute, the National Security Law, in June 2020. It has decapitated Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, arrested hundreds of protesters and others for exercising their right to free expression, shut down outspoken media, civil society organizations, and businesses, set up a hotline to encourage people to inform on each other, and otherwise created a fearful environment.
Things could have gone a lot differently. Hong Kong people’s identification with China was at an all-time high in 2008, during Beijing’s Summer Olympics, since the territory’s sovereignty was transferred from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. The difficulty has been that Beijing has repeatedly broken its promise to Hong Kong residents: that they may pick their leaders, a pledge inscribed in Hong Kong’s functional constitution, the Basic Law, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
By exhibiting contempt for Hong Kong people’s rights and appointing someone with an abusive past to lead a city already rife with rights breaches, Beijing continues to convince many Hong Kong residents—who formerly trusted it—that their destiny is incompatible with that of the Chinese government.