Commitment of Hong Kong civil servants will be assessed by national security efforts, chief says

Hong Kong civil servants’ commitment to their duties will be assessed by observing how they uphold national security in their work, a factor that will also become part of their performance evaluation, the head of the government workforce has said.

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan also said in an exclusive interview with the Post that “wholehearted support” for management decisions was “basic work ethics”, as she explained why the government had banned staff from criticising policies in an official capacity.

The government updated its code of practice for public servants two weeks ago, including clauses in response to the implementation of the city’s domestic national security law in March.

The top “core value” in the Civil Service Code is “upholding the constitutional order and national security”, followed by workers being “people-oriented” and having a “passion for public service”.

Yeung said she expected government workers at all levels to recognise the paramount importance of safeguarding national security and to be able to make policies “more watertight” and less susceptible to threats.

“In their daily work, they should be able to ensure that processes, internal regulations and so on are designed in such a way that will best safeguard national security,” Yeung said in the wide-ranging interview.