Hong Kong’s John Lee hails ‘high degree of consensus’ with 4 mainland Chinese cities, says it will help finance hub to ‘make up for lost time’
- City leader John Lee also points to ‘harmonious atmosphere’ between Hong Kong officials and legislators throughout four-day visit to Greater Bay Area
- He says the tour has also illustrated Hong Kong’s devotion to actively integrating into the bay area
Wrapping up the four-day trip with 83 lawmakers and bureau chiefs to Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan and Guangzhou, city leader Lee on Monday also pointed to the “harmonious atmosphere” between officials and legislators throughout the visit, which was “a huge contrast” to the past.
“The days when our legislature was paralysed by filibustering have passed. We failed to push ahead with a lot of things which we had hoped to do back then,” Lee said upon his return to Hong Kong, referring to the era before Beijing revamped the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure only “patriots” govern.
“So we must now catch up the time [we’ve lost], for achievement and to strive for the top position. We should be innovative to tackle the bottleneck in turning Hong Kong into a leading city in the world.”
Lee said he was pleased to see a united executive branch and legislature, as witnessed in the constructive communication and solidarity during the trip.
