Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung claims legacy in final policy speech

Outgoing leader shifts focus from city’s bitter social and political divides to livelihood issues, and says he ‘basically’ delivered election pledges

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The major policies Leung Chun-ying announced in his speech before the Legislative Council, covering aspects including sports, education, labour, health and tourism, will roughly add up to a one-off expenditure of HK$26.4 billion. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 12:15am, 19 Jan 2017Updated: 11:35am, 19 Jan 2017

With less than six months to go before retiring, Hong Kong’s controversial leader sought to claim his legacy in his swansong policy speech on Wednesday, proposing plans ranging from economic development to sports to show he was not heading a lame-duck government for the rest of his term.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying declared he had “basically” delivered all his election promises, a claim instantly refuted by his critics who also lamented the lack of initiatives to heal the social and political divides that have plagued his four years in power, although others hailed his shift of focus from politics to development and livelihood policies.

Watch: CY Leung’s policy address

“I don’t want to create any legacy, but I think it would be useful for everyone to actually go through the policy addresses of the past five years ... and ask ourselves whether or not these are the right policies and measures that people in Hong Kong need,” he said later at a press conference, when questioned on whether his successor, to be elected in March, would see his policies through.

“After I step down, speaking as a Hong Kong person, I would like ... the new government to continue to look after the underprivileged, particularly the elderly, to spend more on health care, to plough ahead on the basis of what we have done in this term, and on the land we will have made available by that time to build more housing, particularly subsidised housing.”

In a separate briefing for editors, he said: “Nobody in my administration has the mentality of a sunset government.”

The major policies he announced in his speech before the Legislative Council, covering aspects including sports, education, labour, health and tourism, would roughly add up to a one-off expenditure of HK$26.4 billion.

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