No easy task to reopen mainland China border, admits Hong Kong leadership candidate, pointing to shared duty to protect against Covid-19
- John Lee notes two sides have joint responsibility to control the pandemic under ‘one country, two systems’
- Lee also vows to flesh out his policies to boost innovation and technology after meeting sectors’ representatives
But Lee pledged to make restoring regular travel over the border a priority if elected during a meeting with district representatives on Saturday.
“Under ‘one country, two systems’, we have a joint responsibility to control the pandemic, and we hope we won’t bring unnecessary worry to our patriots on the mainland,” he said, adding “there is a solution to everything”.
He also expressed hope that work could soon begin on restructuring the government, a day after he told the public he was inclined to adopt the overhaul plan drawn up by the current administration to better focus resources on issues such as housing and culture.
“I hope the restructuring can be completed before the new term of the government. This is also the plan of the current government,” he said, after meeting the representatives from the innovation sector at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park in Sha Tin. “Of course the time is tight. But I am confident in the preparatory work done by the current government.”
On Friday, Lee said he would study the plan floated by incumbent Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to set up a new policy bureau centred on culture, sports and tourism, while splitting the Transport and Housing Bureau into two policy areas.
The Home Affairs Bureau should be renamed the home affairs and youth bureau, she suggested.