“Designated Enforcer”: Beijing-handpicked Official to be Hong Kong’s Next Leader

Former police official John Lee anointed as the next chief executive by a small committee

Washington, DC (May 8, 2022) - On Sunday, a small election committee rubber-stamped the selection of John Lee, the 64-year-old former police official, as Hong Kong’s chief executive. It caps a “coronation” process carefully choreographed by Beijing in which Lee was the sole candidate.

The Campaign for Hong Kong releases the following statements from Board Member Michael Curtis Davis:

"Copying the mainland top-down system of selecting Hong Kong's top official will only inspire the same distrust of government that the 'one country, two systems" model was supposed to avoid. Moreover, excluding Hong Kong people from the selection process ensures that their interests will not be represented in policy decisions.

Beijing's rapid promotion of the police official largely responsible for the recent crackdown signals that the rule of law and human rights protections promised in the Basic Law is a low priority. Hong Kong people are now essentially governed under a national security constitution with any open opposition to government policy treated as a national security threat.”

From Founder and President Samuel Chu:

“In Lee, Beijing gets its ‘designated enforcer’ who rose through the ranks of a police force and administration that oversaw the transformation of one of the freest cities in the world into one of the most repressed. In a city firmly in the grip of Beijing under the National Security Law, Lee was the logical selection as a leader who will prioritize the continued crackdown and repression.

Make no mistake - Lee is a puppet elected through a sham process who will face no political opposition, no independent and free press, and no freedom of speech, assembly, or expression. Today, John Lee won and the people of Hong Kong lost.”