Letters | There is more to Hong Kong than the national security law

Demoting poverty alleviation and issues concerning ethnic minority groups to secondary concerns is unacceptable, but ignoring our city’s youth is unforgivable

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Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks as new Chief Secretary John Lee, centre, and new Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee look on, during a news conference in Hong Kong on June 25. Photo: AP

Published: 6:30am, 14 Jul 2021Updated: 6:30am, 14 Jul 2021

It is unacceptable to the people of Hong Kong that our No 2 official lacks policy experience across a range of issues that affect the daily lives of citizens (“Hong Kong No 2 official John Lee’s focus is on national security, not other policy issues, Carrie Lam says”, July 11).

While the fact that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is making poverty alleviation and issues concerning ethnic minority groups secondary concerns is unacceptable, that she chooses to also make our city’s youth – in other words, our city’s future – a secondary issue is unforgivable.

There is more to Hong Kong than the national security law. That is something that is being handled perfectly well by the central government’s liaison office. John Lee Ka-chiu has been appointed to an office which requires oversight of Hong Kong for the benefit of all Hongkongers (“Hong Kong’s new No 2 official John Lee dismisses concerns over policy experience”, June 26).

For Lam to announce, “we will play to our strengths respectively, with me spending more effort on these aspects” is wholly inappropriate, as they remain areas where she has already failed to make a difference.

Beijing is right to demand patriots, but Hong Kong demands competence.

Mark Peaker, The Peak