Hong Kong’s Chief Executive election may follow the Macao model

Hong Kong’s widely touted Beijing-backed chief secretary, Li Jiachao, on Wednesday finally resigned from his post ahead of next month’s election for the city’s chief executive, saying he would run for the post if Beijing approves his resignation. The Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Hong Kong has sent a message to election committee members, stating that Li Jiachao is the only candidate Supported by Beijing, which means that the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive next month is likely to be a one-man election without competition.

Hong Kong local media said the chief executive election is likely to adopt Macau’s “one-man candidacy” model, meaning there is only one candidate. That means the chief executive is essentially appointed by King James, and Li Jiachao is expected to easily become Hong Kong’s next chief executive as Beijing’s sole in-house candidate.
Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong chief executive who ignited the anti-China movement, announced only on April 4th that she would not run for chief executive. Her ouster is said to be an open secret and she is seen by Beijing as more loyal than strong-arm. Courtiers in Beijing hint at “loyal wasters”. So, what is Lam’s legacy in Hong Kong? Jean-pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at Hong Kong Baptist University, told the New York Times: “She was one of the key figures who buried ‘one country, two systems’ as we understood it in the 25 years before the handover.”

She cited the protests, the coronavirus and “constant interference from outside forces” as reasons for her decision to step down on Monday. “I’m under more pressure than I’ve ever been.” Beijing was not satisfied that she had done her best because she had for the first time clearly turned the fight against Beijing. It was also under her rule that Hong Kong people realized that the government had lost the space afforded by “one country, two systems” for the benefit of Hong Kong people and had become a puppet of Beijing.

It goes without saying that she has a low degree of satisfaction in governing. A Hong Kong governor who should be regarded as an official of her mother and father ended up in that position of being the enemy of Hong Kong people and taking orders from Beijing in everything. The first step to overturn Hong Kong’s legal system was Beijing’s will for many years, but it was initiated in her hands. She was willing to be a good gun for Beijing, where to point and hit, or her own cognitive limitations?

When millions of people took to the streets to petition for direct elections, Lam panicked and appealed to Beijing, which saw the pro-democracy movement as “Hong Kong violence” and encouraged a crackdown that reduced a once-acclaimed Hong Kong police officer to street beating.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) has replaced Hong Kong’s legislative Council (LEGCo) to introduce a Hong Kong version of the national Security Law in the name of quarantine and quarantine at the end of Beijing’s response to COVID-19. The strongest advocate of this law was Lee Ka-chiu, a former security secretary who later served as chief secretary for administration. Mr Lee, a former policeman, was promoted to chief secretary only last year. He has no previous experience of running a full government department, but won favor in Beijing after forcefully suppressing the anti-China protests in 2019 as secretary for Security and pushing for Hong Kong’s national security law