Ultimate week, the person who led the crackdown stepped onto a degree to put out his imaginative and prescient for Hong Kong — this time now not as the town’s safety leader, however its subsequent chief.
“It actually alerts (government) are intensifying that heavy-handed way to Hong Kong, and hanging the so-called nationwide safety as their coverage for governing the town,” Legislation stated.
A upward push years within the making
The forces in the back of Lee’s upward push to the town’s most sensible activity may also be traced again just about part a century.
Lee joined the Hong Kong police drive as a 19-year-old recruit in 1977 as the town — then a British colony — underwent an financial transformation into a contemporary monetary heart.
He rose throughout the ranks and used to be promoted to leader superintendent in 1997 — the similar 12 months Britain passed the town to China in a pomp-filled rite watched world wide.
Since that watershed 12 months, activists like Legislation say they have got watched Hong Kong’s freedoms be squeezed ever tighter. The entire whilst, Lee endured gaining prominence, changing into deputy commissioner, the second-highest place within the police drive, via 2010.
Simply two years after that, he joined the town’s Safety Bureau as under-secretary. To a couple, the appointment of a high-ranking police officer to a key authorities place of business used to be a remark of intent.
“We had been already actually anxious about that, as a result of that actually signaled a metamorphosis in Hong Kong’s coverage, converting it in a apparently extra suppressive method,” Legislation stated.
Via 2016, when Legislation used to be elected into the legislature, Lee “used to be already notoriously tricky to take care of” and gave the impression opposed to any newshounds or opposition lawmakers who raised questions or demanding situations, Legislation stated.
Lee’s supporters have disputed this characterization, keeping up his time within the police drive helped get ready him for a public place of business.
At a temporary political rally on Friday, Lee, whose slogan is “We and us — a brand new bankruptcy in combination,” wired the significance of group and promised to “make Hong Kong a spot of hope” as soon as appointed.
CNN has reached out to Lee’s marketing campaign workforce for remark.
The 2019 protests
Lee’s upward push endured when he used to be appointed safety leader in 2017 — the “starting of a converting development,” stated Joseph Cheng, a retired Hong Kong instructional and pro-democracy activist now primarily based in New Zealand.
“Beijing appears to be emphasizing loyalty extra, or the aptitude of imposing a difficult line — subsequently, senior officers from the disciplinary forces seem to occupy a extra tremendous place,” Cheng stated.
It used to be beneath Lee’s tenure that the Safety Bureau presented the arguable extradition invoice that ended in the protests in 2019.
Critics frightened Beijing may use the invoice to prosecute Hong Kong citizens for political causes beneath China’s opaque felony gadget.
With the Hong Kong authorities status company at the invoice regardless of public objections, the protests temporarily expanded right into a broader pro-democracy, anti-government motion. Fears had been underpinned via in style anxiousness about Beijing’s rising affect and the perceived erosion of Hong Kong’s liked semi-autonomous standing, which allowed it the freedoms of press, speech and meeting that had lengthy been central to its world attraction.
Retreating the invoice used to be simply one in every of 5 in style calls for via protesters; others incorporated common suffrage and responsibility from police, who confronted accusations of brutality they have got denied.
On the peak of the disaster, protesters and police clashed just about each week, with demonstrators lobbing bricks and Molotov cocktails and officials responding with tear fuel, rubber bullets, and from time to time reside ammunition. The violence polarized the town, cementing the breakdown in believe between the general public and the government.
Lee has many times defended the drive’s movements, insisting critics wish to “take into consideration the (previous occasions), differently it is going to now not be truthful.”
“I’m pleased with the Hong Kong police drive. They continue to be Asia’s best … In comparison to what they do with legislation enforcement companies out of the country, I feel they have got exercised restraint. They have got minimized the hurt and accidents to everyone,” he stated in September 2019.
Lengthy arm of the nationwide safety legislation
Lee received native prominence for his function in fighting the protests — however his implementation of the nationwide safety legislation cemented his recognition as a hardline enforcer and Beijing loyalist.
The safety legislation used to be promulgated via Beijing in June 2020, all the way through a lull within the protests introduced via the Covid-19 pandemic. Described via the Hong Kong authorities on the time as “a the most important step to finishing chaos,” the legislation criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with overseas forces — and permits for optimum sentences of lifestyles imprisonment.
Per week after the raid, Lee used to be promoted to leader secretary — the second-highest place in authorities — and the primary time a safety respectable has taken the function.
Mavens say Lee’s suppression of the protests and strengthen for nationwide safety is strictly why he now reveals himself the town’s subsequent chief.
“(That is) the praise for loyalty,” stated Cheng, the activist and previous instructional.
Supporters of the safety legislation insist it has helped identify balance within the wake of the violence and political unrest of 2019. “Other folks’s lives and belongings are secure, and they are able to as soon as once more experience their legit rights and freedoms,” a central authority spokesperson stated in April in accordance with a query at the legislation.
However Lee’s affiliation with the legislation has been met with expanding scrutiny in another country. He used to be amongst just about a dozen other folks sanctioned via america in 2020 for undermining the town’s autonomy and democratic processes — which Lee has scoffed at, just lately calling the sanctions “unreasonable” and “acts of bullying.”
The nationwide safety legislation “has restored peace,” Lee advised the United Countries Human Rights Council in March, decrying the 2019 protests as “evil” and lauding “the enhanced electoral gadget.”
“No nation has a monopoly at the style of democracy,” he added.
What this implies for Hong Kong
Lee has already made transparent the type of authorities he’ll form: one with more and more shut ties to mainland China.
On the unveiling of his coverage manifesto on April 29, Lee emphasised the wish to combine Hong Kong with different economically vital Chinese language towns. There used to be no English translation equipped, regardless of English being one in every of Hong Kong’s two respectable languages — in placing distinction to maximum authorities occasions so far.
He additionally vowed to reinforce safety regulation and introduce “nationwide id” training. Each proposals have lengthy been arguable, with earlier makes an attempt to introduce regulation foiled via protests and pushback — a lot to Beijing’s frustration.
In spite of this, the outgoing Leader Government Lam continues to say that Hong Kong’s media sphere is “as colourful as ever,” despite the fact that she warned closing week that “media organizations don’t seem to be above the legislation … together with the nationwide safety legislation.”
Lee will even need to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, with persistence fraying amongst many in Hong Kong after greater than two years of stringent restrictions in response to China’s unbending zero-Covid coverage.
At his coverage manifesto match, Lee asserted that “one day (the virus) might be beneath keep an eye on,” and that he would design measures to permit companies to perform.
Cheng, the pro-democracy activist who moved to New Zealand, sees the longer term as being “the continuation of the laborious line of the previous two years.”
“There is not any toleration of political opposition … there might be little or no tolerance of an unbiased media, and little or no tolerance for the operation of civil society organizations,” Cheng stated.
When requested via CNN about accusations of reduced political freedoms, a central authority spokesperson replied that the rights of Hong Kong citizens are “secure in response to the legislation” — however that “many freedoms and rights don’t seem to be absolute, and may also be limited for causes together with coverage of nationwide safety and public protection.”
Disillusionment and emigration
Amongst former activists and pro-democracy supporters, there is a sense of melancholy as Lee prepares to take place of business.
“It is for sure now not, whatsoever or any parameters, a democratic (procedure),” stated Legislation, the previous lawmaker. “It is actually simply an appointment. I do not actually name it an election.”
Lee has dodged questions on whether or not he used to be handpicked via the central Chinese language authorities, pronouncing in April he welcomed anyone else who needed to run.
After the turmoil of the previous 3 years, even a brand new management is not going to bridge the damaged dating between the federal government and its other folks, stated John Burns, emeritus professor on the College of Hong Kong.
“There’s a large share of the inhabitants this is alienated and indignant,” he stated, pointing to mass emigration as “proof of alienation … of a unwell society.”
Whilst Hong Kong’s harsh Covid restrictions are serving to power this exodus, Lee’s critics say that so too is the crackdown on civil liberties he enforced.
Requested about this on April 29, Lee brushed it off. He claimed Hong Kong had all the time noticed excessive ranges of mobility, and that its proximity to the mainland marketplace would proceed to draw companies.
“We’re an inclusive town,” he advised journalists. “In combination, we begin a brand new bankruptcy for Hong Kong.”
