A new Hong Kong story: can battered city reclaim its image amid US-China tensions?

City leader John Lee has made winning the narrative war a key task of his administration, but experts say it is more than just a publicity exercise

Changing perceptions of the city needs to be ‘a strategic conversation about the future image of mainland China and the future image of Hong Kong together’

Reading Time:11 minutes

Hong Kong leader John Lee has pledged to “tell people how great we are”. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:30am, 20 Aug 2022Updated: 7:57pm, 24 Aug 2022

Hong Kong’s reputation as a global city has taken multiple hits in recent years, from protests to a sweeping national security law and strict quarantine rules, but it wants to reclaim its image. Can it succeed against the odds?

When the British press reported in June that UK ministers might have subjected their judges to political pressure over unfavourable rulings, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee got behind her keyboard.

“What better evidence of the decline of Britain than the moral decline of British politicians?” the top adviser from the Hong Kong government’s Executive Council fired away on Twitter.

The tough-talking, no-nonsense Ip saw it as an opportunity to clear the city’s name, now that the very people who had accused Hong Kong of jeopardising the rule of law when Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 were being lambasted for the same allegation of undue influence on the judiciary.

Convenor of the Executive Council Regina Ip. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Pouncing on the double standard, she continued: “What right [does] Britain [have] to lecture others when its government is led by liars, law breakers and buffoons?”

Ip is not always combative. Sometimes, the Beijing stalwart appears more eager to win over people rather than wage war on them.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x