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https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3081048/new-faces-carrie-lam-has-enlisted-help-hong-kong-tackle
Hong Kong/ Politics

New faces Carrie Lam has enlisted to help Hong Kong tackle coronavirus impact

  • Erick Tsang, Caspar Tsui, Alfred Sit and Christopher Hui have all been handed new roles in city’s government
  • Changes made on Lam’s recommendation and approved by State Council
Chief Executive Carrie Lam leads out the new appointees. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s cabinet received a much-needed boost on Wednesday, as the State Council approved her recommendations and appointed six new principal officials.

Four of them were seen by analysts as rising stars in the city’s administration, as three – Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Caspar Tsui Ying-wai and Alfred Sit Wing-hang – were promoted from senior government positions to become bureau chiefs, while Christopher Hui Ching-yu joined from the financial services sector.

The other two were Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, who was transferred from heading the mainland affairs bureau to the Civil Service Bureau, and new immigration chief Au Ka-wang, who was promoted from being the deputy director.

Here, the Post takes a closer look at the careers of Tsui, Hui, Tsang and Sit.

Caspar Tsui is the new home affairs secretary. Photo: ISD
Caspar Tsui is the new home affairs secretary. Photo: ISD

Caspar Tsui

Tsui, previously the undersecretary of labour and welfare, has replaced Lau Kong-wah, who was the secretary for home affairs from July 2015.

“I am glad that I could return to the big family of the Home Affairs Bureau. There are lots of opportunities, under the bureau’s portfolio, to help rebuild Hong Kong after the pandemic,” Tsui said.

“Many people know I had been teaching rugby on Sunday before the pandemic, and Hong Kong’s Rugby Sevens was delayed amid the pandemic.

“I look forward to continuing holding these big cultural and sports events once the pandemic is over. ”

The 43-year-old was among the first batch of political assistants recruited by the government in 2008. After renouncing his Canadian citizenship that year, he served as political assistant to the secretary for home affairs for almost a decade, before being promoted to his position at labour and welfare in 2017. For two years before that, Tsui was political assistant to Lau.

Reporters drilled him on his first day of work as undersecretary in 2017. Asked whether he knew what the current minimum wage was, and the standard amount of social security assistance received by three-person families, Tsui just said he would be meeting with many stakeholders in the future.

“As mentioned by the secretary, I have only been at work for a few hours,” Tsui said at the time. “When it comes to the details, I believe that I must meet stakeholders to understand their needs. So, in this way, I believe that we will have ample time to prove to citizens that I am able to competently fulfil the responsibilities of this position.”

Tsui holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the University of Ottawa.

Before joining the government, he was an investment services manager at Hang Seng Bank. He also worked at several other banks, including HSBC in Canada, Bank of Montreal, Merrill Lynch and American Express Bank.

He joined the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong in 2006, and was the vice-chairman of its branch of younger members, the Young DAB, from 2007 to 2008.

Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui. Photo: Handout
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui. Photo: Handout

Christopher Hui

Hui, executive director of the Financial Services Development Council, has succeeded James Lau as secretary for financial services and the treasury.

“Today, I had a feeling of returning home, as I was once a part of the administrative officers,” Hui said on Wednesday. “Hong Kong has been facing multiple difficulties and challenges, but I deeply believe … the city’s financial genes have not changed.”

He said the city would enhance its strengths in connecting mainland and international markets and do a better job of promoting green finance.

Hui cited lyrics from the Hong Kong version of We Shall Overcome, which was released in 2003 during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak, and called for the city to be united in “love, bravery, perseverance and fighting spirit”.

A younger brother of former undersecretary for home affairs Florence Hui Hiu-fai who died in 2018, Christopher Hui was a managing director at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, holding various positions for more than 12 years.

His father Hui Wang-chuen is a veteran pro-Beijinger and a leader of one of the major Fujian associations in Hong Kong.

The younger Hui, 43, joined the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong in 2008, and is a member of the standing committee.

Before joining the FSDC, he served as director of strategic development at New World Development, and was responsible for the development of the Greater Bay Area, the national plan to integrate Hong Kong with Macau, and other nine Guangdong cities, as a financial and technological powerhouse.

He was previously an administrative officer of the Hong Kong government stationed at its Beijing office. In 2014, he was appointed by then chief executive Leung Chun-ying as a council member of City University.

Hui received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford, and his MBA from the Insead graduate business school.

His wife, Rita Chan, is an executive director at Goldman Sachs (Asia).

Erick Tsang had been expected to retire in September. Photo: Handout
Erick Tsang had been expected to retire in September. Photo: Handout

Erick Tsang

Tsang said he was honoured to have been appointed the new secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs.

“This is a new challenge for me, but with my experience in public administration, and my past working relationship and getting along with mainland authorities, I believe I am capable of this job,” he said.

“There are a few elections coming up – including the legislative election this year and election committee subsector election next year – I will make sure that they will be conducted openly, fairly and honestly.

“I will also strengthen public education on the [Chinese] constitution and Basic Law.”

Tsang’s profile has risen in recent months because of his repatriation mission overseas with predecessor Patrick Nip amid Covid-19, but he was also put under the spotlight over visitor rejections during his service.

“Under ‘one country, two systems’ Hong Kong government has the autonomy to examine and approve each immigration case. We do not need to report to the central government,” Tsang said in February 2019.

Tsang, 56, joined the Immigration Department in 1987 and rose to the top post in 2016. He was seconded to the Security Bureau in 2003, and stationed in the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s Beijing office in 2006. Before the reshuffle, he was expected to retire in September.

During his time as chief, one of the controversies centred on barring veteran British journalist Victor Mallet from entering Hong Kong as a visitor in September 2018.

Mallet was earlier denied a renewal of his work visa after he hosted a talk at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) in August 2018, featuring separatist Andy Chan Ho-tin who was founder of the Hong Kong National Party, a group outlawed by the government on the grounds of national security.

Tsang shot down “conspiracy” claims over the rejection without an explanation, adding his officers were guided by law and policy, and safeguarding national security was one of his job priorities.

Over the past two months, Tsang has been to Japan and also to Wuhan with Nip to take hundreds of stranded Hong Kong residents home amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked if he was eying the position of security minister, given his high profile overseas missions, he only said: “I did not even give a thought about it. I even told [security] minister [John Lee Ka-chiu] before my departure that I was afraid of and worried about such a rumour.”

His wife, Louise Ho Pui-Shan, is deputy commissioner of the Customs and Excise Department.

Alfred Sit has replaced Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang. Photo: EMSD
Alfred Sit has replaced Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang. Photo: EMSD

Alfred Sit

A mechanical engineer, Sit has replaced Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung, 64, after leading the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), and almost retiring.

“In my past 30 year of civil service, I have felt deeply that Hong Kong has a lot of innovation and technology talent, but we definitely need more cooperation and communication between sectors,” Sit, 58, said. “We need to improve economic growth and social livelihood through developments in IT sectors.”

He joined the government as an assistant electrical and mechanical engineer in 1984, going on to become deputy director of the department in 2011, and director in 2017. His predecessor, Frank Chan Fan, is secretary for transport and housing.

Having worked in the electrical and mechanical engineering field for more than 30 years, Sit is also active in serving in professional groups. He was president of the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management, the chairman of the Biomedical Division, and the honorary secretary of the Nuclear Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.

But there have been doubts expressed over his ability where innovation and technology is concerned, with the EMSD mainly focused on inspection of operations, the safety of electricity and gas installations, railways, lifts, escalators and amusement rides, without much experience in the IT sector.