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Town’s former safety chief obtained greater than 99% of the vote from a committee stacked with principally pro-Beijing members. He was the only real candidate in Sunday’s vote.
On July 1, the twenty fifth anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from Britain to China, Lee will take over as chief govt of the semi-autonomous territory from Carrie Lam. She leaves after 5 tumultuous years that spanned pro-democracy protests in 2019, a subsequent crackdown that snuffed out nearly all dissent, and Hong Kong’s worst coronavirus outbreak, which has killed greater than 9,000 individuals this 12 months.
WHO IS JOHN LEE?
Lee, 64, spent greater than three many years within the police power earlier than he was appointed undersecretary of Hong Kong’s safety bureau in 2012. He was promoted to safety minister in 2017 in Lam’s authorities. He was a key determine in pushing for a proposed extradition invoice in 2019 that may’ve despatched Hong Kong suspects to mainland China, the place courts function beneath the ruling Communist Celebration.
However the invoice sparked large anti-government protests over fears that Beijing was encroaching on Hong Kong’s autonomy, and shortly morphed into requires wider democratic rights, together with common suffrage. The federal government backtracked on the invoice, however beneath Lee, police unleashed a heavy response that included the usage of tear gasoline and rubber bullets towards protesters in addition to mass arrests.
The next 12 months, in 2020, Beijing imposed a sweeping nationwide safety legislation on Hong Kong, with Lee as its important supporter and enforcer. The legislation, which outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with overseas forces within the metropolis’s affairs, was used to clear streets of protesters, silence authorities opponents and crack down on freewheeling media.
The identical 12 months, Lee and different Chinese language in addition to Hong Kong officers together with Lam have been sanctioned by the U.S. “for being concerned in coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning people beneath the authority of the Nationwide Safety Regulation, in addition to being concerned in its improvement, adoption, or implementation.”
In June 2021, Lee was promoted to chief secretary for administration, successfully changing into the No. 2 official in Hong Kong.
He resigned from his submit in April to face for the management polls. Throughout his election marketing campaign, YouTube terminated Lee’s channel in compliance with U.S. sanctions – a transfer that Lee described as “bullying” and “unreasonable.”
WHAT DOES HIS ELECTION MEAN FOR HONG KONG?
Consultants have mentioned that Beijing’s endorsement of Lee indicators the central authorities is on the lookout for somebody dependable to make sure that its authority in Hong Kong is rarely questioned once more.
Town was promised freedoms not present in mainland China when the British handed it over in 1997. However such Western-style liberties, together with the liberty of press and meeting, have been severely eroded with the implementation of the nationwide safety legislation. Over 150 individuals, most of them pro-democracy supporters, have been arrested and lots of others fled overseas or maintain quiet.
Lee has additionally pledged to enact an area laws to guard towards safety threats, often known as Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Fundamental Regulation. Earlier makes an attempt to cross the invoice have failed due to sturdy native opposition. Article 23 stipulates that town shall enact its personal legal guidelines to ban “any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion towards the Central Folks’s Authorities,” in addition to “theft of state secrets and techniques.”
HOW DID THE ELECTION PROCESS CHANGE?
This 12 months’s vote for Hong Kong’s chief govt is the primary because the electoral system was modified final 12 months to make sure that solely “patriots” are allowed to run for workplace.
The crackdown on dissent, coupled with the electoral reform, all however eradicate pro-democracy candidates for the legislature or the highest submit. Underneath the brand new system, candidates have to be vetted by a committee that determines if they’re appropriate or patriotic sufficient.
Underneath the brand new electoral guidelines, Lee was the one candidate who obtained backing by Beijing. A number of individuals, together with a film producer, had expressed curiosity in operating however didn’t submit their names throughout the nomination course of.
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