HK’s administrative secretary will remain in office until a new team takes office in July Carrie Lam: No big impact on work

More than a week after the Hong Kong government’s no. 2 official, Lee Ka-chiu, resigned as administrative secretary to run for the next chief executive, Carrie Lam announced that she had been instructed by the central government in Beijing not to appoint a replacement until a new team is installed in July. Break the practice of replacing or appointing important government officials when they leave office. Mrs Lam acknowledged that job vacancies were rare, but did not object, stressing that they would have “no major impact” on government work.

Mr Chua TSZ Keung, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Administration of the Chinese University, said that this might have something to do with The fact that Beijing did not accept Mrs Lam’s proposal. He also hoped to leave flexibility for Mr Li to set up his own class in the future so as not to arouse speculation that the current appointee would be regarded as the next Administrative secretary. Yesterday, Li Ka-chiao, the only candidate for chief executive, was asked whether it was convenient for him to set up a class. He only said that he believed the central government and the Hong Kong government had considered the arrangement and believed it could be handled.

There have been two previous cases in which the administrative secretary resigned to run for the chief executive. Each time, a replacement was appointed. For example, when the then Administrative Secretary Henry Tang ying-yen resigned to run for the post in 2011, the most senior official at the time, Michael Suen ming-yeung, acted as his deputy. When Mrs Lam resigned to run for election in 2017, the then Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, was also in charge. The then Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chan Ka-keung, took up his former post when the then Financial Secretary, John C Tsang, resigned to run for chief executive. Secretary lam in Li Jiachao resigned this month 6, also said that when run has arrange the appointment and removal of li submitted together with the central consideration, waiting for reply, reflect her has traditionally submitted to Beijing agency as a person, but by the end of yesterday (14), she says it has notified the central government, because now the government is only less than three months remaining term, so will no longer be appointed administrative secretary.
Mrs Lam acknowledged that the vacancy of an administrative secretary was undeniably a rare situation, as it was a common arrangement for her to take an office even when she was away from Hong Kong for a visit of two or three days. “I have no objection to consulting the Central People’s Government and finding it appropriate not to take an office,” she said. She added that one factor may be that she was able to handle the relevant work as an administrative secretary for four and a half years, and she has led the anti-epidemic work for the past two years. She stressed that the vacancy would have “no major impact” on the work of the Government and that she had appointed a new chief Secretary to take up the statutory functions in accordance with the law.

As a result, the Government appointed The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, to succeed Mr Li Ka-chiu as the chairman of the Candidature Committee to lead the committee in examining and confirming the candidature of the Chief Executive, election Committee and Legislative Council members; The Chief Executive’s Office, Mr Chan Kwok-kee, replaces the secratery and meets the Chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Legislative Council on a weekly basis.

On the impact of the vacancy of the Administrative Secretary on the operation of the Hong Kong Government, Legislative Council member Tete Chi-yuen said that the vacancy of the Administrative Secretary, who heads all departments, for nearly three months is not ideal. Even if Carrie Lam is capable, she cannot take on too many responsibilities at the same time