HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s former deputy leader, John Lee, said he will hold a news conference on Saturday after China approved his resignation as chief secretary of the global financial hub.
Lee, 64, a former deputy commissioner of police, resigned this week after signalling his intention to contest a leadership election in May for the city’s top job.
He said on Friday that he would announce his “next move” to the press on Saturday but did not elaborate.
The former career police officer was promoted to Hong Kong’s second most senior post in 2021 in a move that some political analysts said indicated Beijing’s priorities for the former British colony were related to security rather than the economy.
A security official during Hong Kong’s often violent 2019 pro-democracy protests, Lee said on Wednesday he had stepped down and planned to stand in the election for Hong Kong leader on May 8.
On Monday, embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who has governed the Chinese-ruled city through the unprecedented upheaval of anti-government protests and COVID-19, said she would not seek a second five-year term as the city’s chief executive.
City leaders are selected every five years by a small election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists so whoever becomes the next leader will do so with Beijing’s tacit approval.
Since the city reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, there have been four chief executives, all of whom have struggled to balance the democratic aspirations of some residents with the vision of China’s Communist Party leaders.
(Reporting By Clare Jim, Anne Marie Roantree and Greg Torode; Editing by Robert Birsel)
