OpinionHong Kong’s financial secretary proves he’s a cut above his boss and fellow ministers – in political acumen

Paul Chan did a masterful job managing expectations before announcing a budget featuring a crowd-pleasing HK$10,000 handout

Hong Kong needs more such measures, which address the needs of ordinary people, not grandstanding in the form of massive funding for improving the rule of law

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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivers the 2020-21 budget at the Legislative Council in Tamar, Admiralty, on February 26. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 12:00pm, 1 Mar 2020Updated: 7:57pm, 1 Mar 2020

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has once again showed extraordinary talent in avoiding a lot of the flak his boss and teammates have had to brave. For one, Chan made sure he repeated all the right tactics he employed in the 2019-2020 budget, particularly managing expectations. And boy, manage public expectations he did this year.

In the run-up to his budget speech, Chan made sure to talk a fair bit about our “finite resources” and to warn us about the impact of a huge deficit in the current financial year. Paired with the widespread pessimism that has persisted in recent months, Chan struck the right tone again this year – having prepared all for worse, he delivered more.

In terms of political acumen, Chan has proven himself to be a cut above the rest of the administration. Perhaps this is why Chan was able to pull off something his boss couldn’t – delivering a complete speech in the Legislative Council.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had to deliver her policy address by video in October but the usual political pack heckling government ministers spared Chan and his speech. Chan may have escaped his boss’ fate because the budget is an appropriations bill subject to legislative procedure, but it is still significant that he was allowed to complete his speech.

And so it is: money talks. The rest is dross.

Lam tried to steal Chan’s thunder this year — as she has done in the past – by pre-empting his budget with the HK$30 billion funding plan to offset the impact of the coronavirus epidemic. Chan was unfazed for he knew the HK$10,000 cash handout would strike gold, albeit not with everyone.