City Beat | Is Hong Kong’s administrative officer-led governing system over? Maybe not, but it’s the beginning of a new political culture for civil servants
- Promotion of tough security officials to the top of government reflects Beijing’s determination to transform civil service culture from political neutrality to patriotism
- Beijing is rebuilding Hong Kong’s governance team to reduce reliance on just one or two senior figures, with the city deemed a key battleground for China-US wrangling
It marks a paradigm shift in Beijing’s governance style for Hong Kong, underscoring the need to expand a political talent pool beyond the traditional bureaucrats and technocrats.
With security minister John Lee Ka-chiu becoming chief secretary and police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung succeeding Lee, some pundits see it as the end of the decades-long “AO era”, the initials referring to the powerful and skilled administrative officers who have dominated the government until now.
It is more of a reflection of Beijing’s disappointment in the system, and its determination to push for a transformation of civil service culture from one focused on “political neutrality” to “patriotism” now.
However, interpreting it as a “punishment” for civil servants but a reward for “hardliners”, as some pro-establishment figures have done, oversimplifies the implications. The reshuffle is to set the clearest criteria in meeting the new bottom line of allowing only “patriots” to govern Hong Kong”.
