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

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Carrie Lam with Chris Tang (left) and John Lee. Photo: Simon Song

Tammy Tam is the Publisher of the South China Morning Post, overseeing both editorial and business strategy and operations to drive the publication’s development and commercial growth.

Published: 6:33pm, 27 Jun 2021Updated: 11:02pm, 27 Jun 2021

The promotion of a pair of tough security officials to two of the city’s top jobs last week was to be expected but it still raised eyebrows.

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.