Editorial | Hong Kong’s new faces must rise to CPPCC challenge
- It is the responsibility of delegates, including tycoons and former officials, to help map out economic and social development goals at a time of uncertainty
The line-up for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in the coming years may seem like a new who’s who in national politics at first glance. But it offers a glimpse of the profile of the top advisory body and the range of views that shape the nation’s strategies and goals amid testing times.
Of particular concern are some 200 delegates drawn from Hong Kong. Among the new faces are former home affairs minister Lau Kong-wah and retired deputy police commissioner Alan Lau Yip-shing. Tycoons Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, a third-generation scion of the family that controls New World Development, and Shun Tak Holdings chief Pansy Ho Chiu-king have also been appointed.
Fewer than half of the 18 incumbent local members on the body’s standing committee remain.
They include property tycoon Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, aged 58, who starts his fifth term, ex-chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, 70, and former World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, 75.
The usual retirement age in mainland politics is 68. The city’s first post-handover chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, 85, will step down as a vice-chairman, but former leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor will not take up his seat.