Alice Wu

Opinion | Minister reshuffle shows Hong Kong’s leader knows time is of the essence

The move should not be a surprise given the hints dropped and the clear need for the pace of change to accelerate

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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (centre) announces the appointments of Mable Chan (left) as secretary for transport and logistics, and Rosanna Law Shuk-pui (right) as secretary for culture, sports and tourism at the government headquarters in Tamar on December 5. Photo: May Tse

Alice Wu

Published: 9:30am, 9 Dec 2024

Politics can be rough. As we saw with the surprise government reshuffle last week, it’s still cutthroat in spite of Hong Kong’s new and improved electoral system and political landscape.

Survival of the fittest continues to apply. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s removal of two ministers – secretary for culture, sports and tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and secretary for transport and logistics Lam Sai-hung – in one go shows he means business.

The reshuffle is seen as an apparent U-turn from comments Lee made earlier. Less than six months ago, Lee had said he thought members of his team were up to par and “would of course carry on” in their positions.

However, what transpired last week shouldn’t come as a surprise at all. Previously, Lee was responding to rumours of intended changes to his team. He has since been dropping hints, most notably in his latest policy address.

Specifically, in the third item of the annex to the policy address, Lee singled out the delay in the release of the blueprint for developing the city’s arts and creative industries sector by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. Lee said he had instructed the minister in charge to get it done and that he was monitoring the progress. The message was that time was almost up.

Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, then secretary for culture, sports and tourism, attends a press conference on incidents of animal death at the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens on October 18. Photo: Dickson Lee

Yeung did deliver the blueprint late last month and it didn’t quite make a splash. The 71 measures contained in the blueprint that focused on four key directions – promoting Chinese culture, developing diverse creative industries, building an international platform for East-meets-West cultural exchanges and refining the ecosystem for creative industries – didn’t inspire enthusiasm or discussion, to say the least.