What exactly is Hong Kong’s Executive Council and why does it matter?
The city’s top policy-making body advises the chief executive and has at times generated political drama
Exco is the top policy-making body of the Hong Kong government. It does not function like a close-knit body as in democracies like Britain, but the chief executive nonetheless treats it as his or her de facto cabinet. Over the years, it has occasionally been a source of political drama.
1. What is the role of Exco?
The Executive Council has existed since Hong Kong’s colonial days. Under the executive-led administrative structure of the British colonial government, the governor appointed prominent social figures and business elites to Exco as his advisers.
In the 1980s, when drafting a mini-constitution for the city in the run-up to the 1997 handover, mainland officials wanted to continue concentrating power in the executive branch, with one change: a government in which the chief executive would be appointed by the government.