Hong Kong’s Lee lauds order after ‘chaos’ in sales pitch for city

Hong Kong’s John Lee says metropolis authorities will ‘trawl’ the world for gifted people and new enterprises.

Hong Kong Chief Government John Lee waves as he enters the chamber of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on October 19, 2022 [Vernon Yuen/AP]

Hong Kong’s chief John Lee has delivered an inaugural coverage deal with that emphasised the upkeep of nationwide safety and social order after a interval of “chaos”, and unveiled huge plans to draw new enterprises and world-class expertise to town.

After prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns and political upheavals in Hong Kong, Lee’s speech on Wednesday was targeted on reviving town’s credentials as a global enterprise hub and pitching the metropolis as a horny location for graduates of the world’s prime universities to reside and work.

Lee, a Beijing-anointed former profession policeman, started his deal with with a give attention to safety, although he didn't straight reference the years of pro-democracy protests that noticed a whole lot of hundreds of Hong Kong residents take to the streets to say their autonomy from Beijing, resulting in clashes with police, and hundreds of arrests.

The protest subsided with the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and Beijing’s passing of a nationwide safety regulation for Hong Kong that has seen greater than 100 folks, together with plenty of outstanding activists, arrested, and plenty of others fleeing town.

Lee spoke of the benefits that Hong Kong provided beneath the “one nation, two programs” the place town was a bridge linking mainland China with the remainder of the world.

Hong Kong had returned to “order”, Lee mentioned, and was beginning “a brand new chapter” the place it will shine as soon as once more because the “Pearl of the Orient”.

Upkeep of safety and sovereignty was key to making sure stability and prosperity within the metropolis, mentioned Lee, who as a former Hong Kong safety chief oversaw the crackdown on the pro-democracy protests and is amongst an inventory of officers sanctioned by the USA.

“The event of Hong Kong permits no delay. Social stability is the prerequisite for our improvement, and we now have to do away with any interference,” Lee mentioned.

He additionally spoke of the necessity to “guard vigilantly in opposition to threats”, strengthening of the rule of regulation, the administration of justice, and the general public’s understanding of the regulation.

Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington, reporting from Hong Kong, mentioned Lee’s speech of greater than two and a half hours was his first coverage deal with, and nationwide safety was chief amongst points within the early a part of the presentation.

“How Hong Kong has gone from a scenario of chaos now to one among governance and the way town should be vigilant to take care of the steadiness that they've labored onerous to attain … Now, he says, the problem is to advance from that place of stability to one among prosperity,” Washington mentioned of Lee’s speech.

“These are traces we’ve heard from China’s President Xi Jinping prior to now, together with at his deal with to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] Congress and when he visited Hong Kong as nicely,” she mentioned.

Expertise trawl

Civil servants have been additionally placed on discover by Lee that enhancements in governance have been a precedence and their want for “consciousness of safeguarding nationwide sovereignty, safety and improvement pursuits”. Civil service disciplinary measures would even be streamlined, in line with Lee.

However, the first focus of his speech was on promoting Hong Kong as a centre for enterprise and expertise.

Hong Kong, which solely scrapped obligatory quarantine for worldwide arrivals final month, is about to finish the 12 months in a full-blown recession and has seen its fiscal deficit soar.

The border with the Chinese language mainland stays all however closed due to Beijing’s strict “zero-COVID” guidelines.

Lee provided a blueprint to reverse the downturn and reboot town as a horny worldwide hub.

“Over the previous two years, the native workforce shrank by about 140,000,” he mentioned.

“Aside from actively nurturing and retaining native expertise, the federal government will proactively trawl the world for expertise.”

Among the many measures rolled out have been HK$30bn ($3.8bn) for a brand new funding fund to draw abroad companies and make it simpler to rent foreigners in 13 key professions.

The town can even give preferential remedy to “prime expertise”, described as individuals who earn HK$2.5m ($320,000) or extra yearly and graduates from the highest 100 universities all over the world who've related working expertise.

Abroad expertise who paid further taxes when shopping for property in Hong Kong can obtain a refund after they change into a everlasting resident, a standing accessible after residing within the metropolis for seven years, Lee added.

Consultants and enterprise teams had lengthy warned that heavy-handed coronavirus insurance policies have been driving away international enterprise and making it tougher to draw and retain expertise.

Hong Kong’s tempo of reopening nonetheless lags behind regional rivals like Singapore, which has gone on a appeal offensive to lure worldwide expertise and has bounced again as a worldwide transport hub.

Other than the pandemic, many residents – particularly locals – have cited the persevering with political crackdown as a main motive for leaving, with many workplaces and faculties reshaped by pro-Beijing ideology.

Beijing’s imposition of the sweeping nationwide safety regulation on Hong Kong since 2020 has largely silenced town as a centre totally free speech and eradicated most dissent.