Hong Kong leader John Lee set for 4-day maiden duty visit to Beijing, expected to discuss further reopening of border with mainland China
- Sources say John Lee is also expected to meet incoming state leaders such as Li Qiang, who will succeed Li Keqiang as premier
- Some politicians urge Lee to emphasise need to fully reopen city’s border with mainland by allowing quarantine-free travel.
Lee, the city’s former security minister who took up the top job in July, would also meet incoming state leaders, such as Li Qiang, who is set to succeed Li early next year, they said.
A Beijing-based official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the work report would focus on Hong Kong’s road map to restoring national security and social stability.
Lee would also focus on the city’s reopening to the mainland and the rest of the world, its economic progress and efforts to integrate into the Greater Bay Area, the insider said. The bay area is Beijing’s plan to integrate 11 major cities along the southern coast into an economic powerhouse.
But it remained unclear whether Lee would bring up his earlier request to the central government for an interpretation of the national security law, following a top court ruling that a prominent overseas barrister could defend media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.
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The National People’s Congress Standing Committee is set to meet from December 27 to 30, but the interpretation of the national security law is not on the public agenda, and Lai’s trial has been adjourned to September next year.
Lee would also meet officials from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the state-level department overseeing the city, to discuss easing restrictions at the border, local and mainland sources said.
Lee met Xi on July 1 when the country’s leader arrived to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule and officiate at the chief executive’s swearing-in. The two also met at Apec last month, where Lee was assigned to sit next to Xi during one meeting.
The coming duty visit, usually occurring just before the end of the year, has been a regular routine for chief executives, though Lee’s predecessor Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had to present her report virtually in 2020 due to the emerging pandemic.
The mainland is facing a surge in Covid-19 infections after it relaxed some of its anti-pandemic rules, with the rise in cases triggering a widespread shortage of medicine.
Some Hong Kong politicians have asked Lee to emphasise the need to fully reopen the city’s border with the mainland by allowing quarantine-free travel, which they say is a crucial move to lure investors eyeing the Chinese market, while also reviving tourism.
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But political commentator Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said Beijing was unlikely to scale back current measures significantly as a “gift to Hong Kong” just because Lee was visiting.
“It also depends on the development of the pandemic on the mainland and Hong Kong,” he said, although he expected further relaxations some time next year.
Hong Kong recorded 15,383 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, taking the city’s overall toll to 2,370,303. It also reported 39 additional deaths.
The mainland reported 1,995 new infections, but authorities no longer record asymptomatic cases.
According to Lau, state leaders were likely to say they recognised Lee’s governing direction as guided by Beijing, but would not say much more given his brief time as chief executive.
Tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said he had big hoped Lee would lobby Beijing officials to bring back tourist visas for mainlanders hoping to visit the city. He suggested that as an initial step, authorities could allow tour groups, which would be easier to trace in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak.
“Many mainland tourists are actually craving a trip to Hong Kong but they cannot come without a visa,” Yiu said, adding mainland authorities had mostly been issuing business visas.
Mainland authorities on Thursday increased the daily quota of Hong Kong residents allowed to visit the mainland from 2,000 to 2,500.
Yiu asked for a further boost and urged Lee to work out with authorities how to ramp up the number of flights to the mainland.
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With a new line-up of state leaders unveiled at the Communist Party’s congress, Lee is expected to see some of the fresh faces.
But the Beijing-based insider said it was unlikely the central government would this week reveal who was taking over from Vice-Premier Han Zheng as the party’s top official overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs.
It would likely be revealed in March, the insider said, when the national legislative and political advisory bodies met in Beijing.
Political commentator Lau said it was important to observe who Lee was scheduled to meet, although he too believed Beijing was unlikely to unveil its official for the city at this stage amid transitions within the party.
