China is wary of Hong Kong’s bureaucratic elite
The city’s leader-in-waiting has a civil-service background, but he has a redeeming feature: he’s a cop
HAVING TAKEN 99.2% of the vote as the sole candidate in an election from which an even higher proportion of Hong Kong’s people were excluded, the territory’s next chief executive, John Lee, made clear why China’s Communist Party engineered his victory. “Protecting Hong Kong from internal and external threats and ensuring its stability”, he said, would be of “paramount importance” under his leadership. Mr Lee is a former policeman. The party trusts him to keep Hong Kong in line.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Stay neutral, love the party”
From the May 14th 2022 edition
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