Incoming Hong Kong leader John Lee ‘to meet state leaders in Beijing soon’
- Sources say Lee will travel to the capital later this month to receive letter of appointment
- He is also expected to present his choice for his team for approval, with finance and justice chiefs expected to stay on, they say
Zhang Xiaoming, executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), was among the senior mainland Chinese officials in Shenzhen monitoring the progress of Lee’s search for his governing team members, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
Insiders also revealed that Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah were “highly likely” to stay on as principal officials.
A source familiar with the chief executive-elect’s upcoming trip to the capital said he was asked to prepare to make the journey “later this month” to accept the appointment letter from Premier Li Keqiang and to meet Xi. It will be Lee’s first time meeting the leaders since he was returned uncontested on May 8 with 99.2 per cent of the vote from a small circle of Beijing loyalists.
Lee’s appointment was approved by the State Council last Friday.
It has been a regular practice for every chief executive-elect to receive the appointment letter in person from the premier, with separate meetings with the president and other senior officials. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made the trip in 2017 as did Leung Chun-ying in 2012, both two weeks after winning the election.
But Lee was still waiting for Beijing to finalise the date of the visit and the arrangements for quarantine required by the Covid-19 pandemic, the source familiar with the plan said.
