Exclusive | Go for a second term? ‘I’m focused on the now’: Hong Kong’s John Lee
‘Grasp the moment. Do your best ... That is my mission,’ city leader says, adding nobody expected he would have to deal with a tariff war
“I think for anybody in the government, focus on what you’re doing now, as the world can be very unpredictable. Nobody predicted, when I was in my first year, that I would have this tariff war that affects everybody in this world,” Lee said in an interview with the Post to review the past three years of his five-year term as Hong Kong’s leader.
“Grasp the moment. Do your best; maximise the value, I think, the chief executive has been creating for society. That is my mission. That is always my goal,” he said, declining to say if he was considering another five-year term.
Lee, a career police officer and security official, rose to Hong Kong’s top post in July 2022, two years after Beijing imposed the national security law in the city following the months-long anti-government protests in 2019.
The next chief executive election is expected to take place in 2027.
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During the interview with the Post, he highlighted his administration’s achievements in restoring stability and security, particularly through the enactment of a domestic national security law, a constitutional requirement enshrined in Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.