Hong Kong top official Caspar Tsui got the boot for ‘partygate’ but critics ask, should others, like host Witman Hung, also be held responsible?

Local NPC deputy Witman Hung’s birthday party was held as city faced an Omicron outbreak that sparked fifth wave of infections

Home affairs chief Caspar Tsui resigned and two other officials were punished over their attendance, but pundits question whether the buck stops just with them

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The January 3 birthday party was attended by about 200 guests in total. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:00am, 4 Feb 2022Updated: 8:24am, 4 Feb 2022

When lawmaker Judy Chan Ka-pui dropped in on fellow pro-establishment ally Witman Hung Wai-man’s birthday party on January 3, she had little inkling the event would snowball into a political storm culminating in the resignation of Hong Kong’s home affairs chief in mere weeks.

“It was held shortly after an intense Legislative Council election, and the same day as our oath-taking ceremony, so we just went there to chill and celebrate,” said the New People’s Party member.

Hosted by Hung, a Hong Kong deputy to China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and a chief liaison officer of the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, the party was attended by more than 200 guests, including 20 legislators and 14 senior officials. Home affairs chief Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, and the city’s financial services, immigration and police chiefs were among them.

Lawmaker Judy Chan says she went to the party to ‘chill and celebrate’. Photo: Winson Wong

Tsui and several others were later ordered to undergo quarantine as two of the party attendees were found to have Covid-19.

The home affairs chief resigned on Monday, hours before the city’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor met the press to confirm how the appointed official, charged with combating the pandemic, had stayed a long time at the party, chatted to others without wearing a mask and had not used the “Leave Home Safe” app while there.

Two others would receive verbal warnings for violating social-distancing rules, Lam said.

With the punishments meted out, pundits have also questioned whether the buck stopped just with them or whether Hung and other senior officials should also bear responsibility and be held to account. After all, they argued, the party was held as the city was facing an Omicron outbreak that sparked the fifth wave of infections, and two days before Lam tightened social-distancing rules, and they should have been more circumspect.

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