John Lee

Early life and education

Lee was born on 7 December 1957 in Hong Kong, with ancestral roots from Panyu, Guangzhou. He grew up in So Uk Estate, Kowloon. He graduated from Wah Yan College, Kowloon, a secondary school run by the Roman Catholic Jesuit religious order.

Lee obtained 4A in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and 1A in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination, and was offered admission to the undergraduate engineering program at the University of Hong Kong. He did not enroll and instead joined the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, citing family reasons.

In 1980, John Lee married Janet Lee Lam Lai-sim (李林麗嬋). They have two sons.

During his tenure as a police officer, Lee received a Master of Public Policy and Management from Charles Sturt University in Australia through a programme sponsored by the Hong Kong Police Force.

Career

Police officer

On 15 August 1977, at the age of 19, Lee joined the Royal Hong Kong Police Force as a probationary inspector. He became a Chief Inspector on 11 May 1984. He became Chief Superintendent in 1997, Assistant Commissioner in 2003, senior assistant commissioner in 2007 and Deputy Commissioner in 2010. Having served in a wide range of operational duties, including the CID, Complaints Against Police, Service Quality, Personnel, Training, Information Systems, Finance, Policies Formulation, Planning and Development, Lee had been the Commander of Kowloon West Region, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) and Director of Crime and Security, and Deputy Commissioner (Management).

As an Assistant Commissioner, he was involved in the investigation of the case of corrupt Police Constable Tsui Po-ko.

Security Bureau

Lee was appointed Under Secretary for Security in 2012 by chief executive Leung Chun-ying and promoted to Secretary for Security in July 2017 in the Carrie Lam administration.

In 2019, Lee played a key role in the push for the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill.

On 3 July 2020, the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency stated that the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was formally established. There were 10 members of the committee. As the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong, Lee was a member of the committee.

In October 2020, Lee told Shenzhen Satellite TV in an interview that he was thankful for Beijing pushing through the Hong Kong national security law.

In December 2020, Lee defended the freezing of bank accounts belonging to former Democratic Party legislator Ted Hui, and said that other bank accounts, including those of suspect's relatives, could be frozen if they were believed to be related to a crime.

In January 2021, after the arrest of 53 pro-democracy figures, Lee stated to the Legislative Council that they were arrested for "subverting state power". Lee also stated that "The Security Bureau strongly reaffirms and fully supports the Police's operation, which is resolute and professional." In addition, Lee stated that the opposition figures' attempts were "evil" and meant to "overthrow" the government.

On 15 January 2021, Lee said that the new National Security Law would include police surveillance of communications, potentially giving the police more power to intercept and read communications.

In April 2021, Lee said that Hong Kong's disciplined services would adopt PLA-style goose step marching in order to demonstrate "nationalistic sentiments" and to "strengthen awareness of national security". In July 2022, Lee as Chief Executive said that "This time, we've comprehensively adopted the Chinese-style marching, which fully reflects the police's national identity and sense of belonging to the country, and also represents a solemn commitment to the trust bestowed by the nation, and loyalty to the country".

Chief Secretary for Administration

On 25 June 2021, the HKSAR Government announced that the State Council has on the recommendation of the Chief Executive appointed Lee as Chief Secretary for Administration, making him the third former police officer after William Caine, the founding head of the Hong Kong Police Force who served as Colonial Secretary from 1846 to 1854, and Francis Henry May, Captain Superintendent of the Police Force from 1893 to 1901 and Colonial Secretary from 1902 to 1911, to have served in the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong.

In January 2022, after the arrest of employees from Stand News, Lee said that US media groups should support law enforcement, claiming that "If you are genuinely interested in press freedom, you should support actions against people who have unlawfully exploited the media as a tool to pursue their political or personal gains".

On 4 March 2022, Lee invoked emergency regulation to announce the construction of a bridge linking Hong Kong with Shenzhen; however, satellite images showed that construction appeared to have begun five days before Lee had invoked the emergency regulation. The border is drawn at the halfway point in the Shenzhen River, and photos show that a barge was on the Hong Kong side on 27 February 2022. On the day of the emergency regulation was announced, photos show that the bridge was past the halfway point on Hong Kong's side, extending just meters away from Hong Kong land.

On 6 April 2022, Lee resigned and planned to join the 2022 Chief Executive election. His resignation was approved by the State Council of China on the following day.

Chief Executive (2022–present)

2022 Chief Executive election bid

On 6 April 2022, Lee resigned and planned to join the 2022 Chief Executive election. His resignation was approved by the State Council of China on the following day. He formally announced his candidacy on 9 April 2022. Lee was the sole candidate who had the blessing of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping's administration in the 2022 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, which was communicated by the Liaison Office. The Office reportedly told the Election Committee that Lee would be the only candidate given permission by Beijing to be Chief Executive. His selection was seen as a move by the Chinese government to focus further on security and further integrate Hong Kong with mainland China.

Lee's campaign manager, Tam Yiu-chung, revealed that Lee would develop a political manifesto by the end of April. Tam later claimed that the political manifesto would not be key for the public to support Lee. Lee dismissed criticism that the Election Committee members were nominating him without seeing his manifesto, claiming that the Election Committee members already knew him and could trust him. Despite having no competitors in the election, Lee said that the election run was "not easy". In October 2023, Lee said "Anyone who takes part in elections knows they must work hard, as nominations are not at your fingertips. They must use all methods available."

FactWire reported that Lee's two sons (Gilbert Lee and Jacky Lee) have business relationships with Election Committee members, but Lee said there was no conflict of interest. In the report, FactWire said that Gilbert Lee's direct manager is Diana Ferreira Cesar, who sits on the finance subsector of the Election Committee. Additionally, Jacky Lee is a business partner of Li Sing-tui, an ex-officio member of the Election Committee. Lee violated the Election Ordinance by submitting late paperwork, but was exempted from penalty in August 2022. For Lee's election forum, seven media stations will cohost the broadcast, with one politician criticizing plans for it, stating that questions are restricted, with no audience member interaction, and the forum being pre-recorded rather than live.

Lee was the sole approved candidate, and of 1,461 Election Committee voters, 8 rejected him, 4 cast blank ballots, and 33 did not vote. He was formally appointed by premier Li Keqiang on 30 May 2022 and the cabinet he nominated was approved by the State Council of China on 19 June. He was officially sworn in on 1 July 2022 in the presence of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping, becoming the third Hong Kong leader with a police background, the others being William Caine and Sir Francis Henry May, who served as acting Governor and Governor of Hong Kong, respectively.

Domestic policy

Since John Lee became chief executive, Hong Kong government officials including Lee himself have shown public displays of loyalty towards Xi, similar to the mainland but previously unheard in the city.

In June 2022, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the Beijing government's office that manages policy around Hong Kong, specifically said that it hoped Lee would tackle the deep-rooted issue of housing in Hong Kong, with more explicit targets, more courage, and more action. On 1 July 2022, Chinese leader Xi Jinping also called on affordable housing to be a priority for Lee's government. On 3 July 2022, Lee said that if the housing supply did not meet targets, both civil servants and government leaders would be responsible. On 19 October 2022, he announced several measures to combat the housing prices, including building 72,000 private residential units over the next five years. Lee has said that he respected the plan to build public housing on parts of the Hong Kong Golf Club's site in Fanling.

In October 2023, Lee cut some anti-speculation stamp duties on purchases of housing.

In July 2022, Lee said that the government would spare no effort to enhance patriotic education, and said that the sense of young people of the nation and national identity would need to be fostered from an early age. In August 2022, Lee said that schools must teach students to respect and safeguard national security. In September 2022, Lee said that teachers would be required to "be cautious" about their conduct, set a "sense of national identity" with students, and also emphasized that "Newly appointed teachers in all public sector schools will be required to pass the Basic Law Test."

In June 2023, after mainland China proposed a Patriotic Education Law for citizens, including Hong Kong and Macau, Lee said that the Hong Kong government would "comply" with its requirements. In October 2023, after the law was passed in mainland China, Lee said that Hong Kong would "fully facilitate the relevant work to co-ordinate within the Government and also the patriotic forces of different sectors in making persistent efforts to promote patriotic education, so as to enable the public to gain further knowledge of the history, culture and rapid development in all aspects of our country and understand the close relationship between Mainland and Hong Kong." A government source revealed that the education sector was not consulted over the changes beforehand, with the chairman of the Subsidised Primary Schools Council saying he still had no idea about the content. Lee had earlier said that for his 2023 policy address, he had 40 meetings and 8,700 pieces of feedback during a 3-month consultation period to have him set priorities.

COVID-19 pandemic

On 5 July 2022 in his first ever weekly news conference as the Chief Executive, Lee said that Hong Kong would look into easing COVID-19 health protocols, shortening the quarantine period in particular. However, he also stressed the aim to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and hospitals from being overwhelmed. He also expressed his awareness for Hong Kong to remain open and convenient to travellers but the risks posed by the pandemic should also be taken into consideration at the same time. In addition, he revealed that he had instructed Secretary of Health Lo Chung-mau to consider the possibility of the move.

On 1 September 2022, Lee announced after his videoconference that people would be allowed to "reverse quarantine" in Hong Kong for seven days before traveling to Guangzhou. Asked about quarantine-free travel to mainland China, Lee said "This proposal of doing quarantine in Hong Kong so as to fulfil the seven-plus-three requirement in Shenzhen is in no replacement of other measures that we always try to seek so as to allow more convenience in allowing people to travel from Hong Kong to the mainland."

On 6 September 2022, Lee denied that government officials were in disagreement over pandemic measures with Bloomberg reporting that some officials hoped to end quarantine by November 2022. On 12 September 2022, SCMP reported that Hong Kong's health experts had been issued clear rules by Lee's administration, stating that they should not express conflicting opinion's against the government's official positions. This came after the government's COVID-19 Expert Advisory Panel, composed of six medical specialists, had several members who suggested gradually lifting COVID-19 restrictions, including removing hotel quarantine by November 2022.

On 8 September 2022, Lee's administration announced that children as young as 5 years old would need to be vaccinated to eat in restaurants; it is one of the few places in the world that requires vaccination for children. A study released in October 2022 showed that 85% of parents in Hong Kong disagree with vaccinating their children.

On 13 September 2022, Lee held a press conference, where he addressed concerns that people coming from mainland China to Hong Kong did not need to be vaccinated. Lee stated that mainland China had few cases and did not pose a risk, though Hong Kong averaged between 8,000 and 10,000 cases per day; Lee did not address the risk of unvaccinated mainland Chinese catching COVID-19 while in Hong Kong. A day later on 14 September 2022, lawmaker Michael Tien criticized the lack of mandatory vaccination for those coming from mainland China, saying that the lack of vaccination could increase their risk of infection in Hong Kong and place strain on the city's healthcare system. Another doctor, Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, chairman of the Medical Association's advisory committee on communicable diseases, echoed Tien's comments against what Lee said, stating "The risk of travellers from the mainland getting Covid in Hong Kong is high. They need to balance this. If they are infected here, will they occupy our public healthcare system? Will it tighten the supply of isolation wards?" On 16 September 2022, the government backtracked on Lee's statement and announced that arrivals from mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan would need to be vaccinated in order to receive a vaccine pass.

Taiwan

In August 2022, after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, Lee said "According to media reports, when Nancy Pelosi was in Taiwan, she ignored the successful implementation of One Country, Two Systems in Hong Kong and maliciously criticised Hong Kong's democracy and freedom." Later, Lee endorsed a document Beijing published called "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era". Lee and other government officials were criticized by Lew Mon-hung for "crossing the line" with his statements on Taiwan, as the Basic Law stipulates that diplomatic affairs of Hong Kong are to be handled by mainland China's Foreign Ministry. On 24 November, Lee condemned remarks made by Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi regarding Taiwan and doubted the value of exchanges with Japan, with Hong Kong cancelling several official events with the country.

2022 Policy address

According to analysis of government press releases in August 2022, Lee did not hold a press conference for 7 straight weeks, the longest break of any Chief Executive in more than 10 years.

On 1 October 2022, Lee said that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech on 1 July 2022 would provide the blueprint for his cabinet's governance.

During his election campaign, Lee promised to release "key performance indicators" and initial ideas on alleviating public housing wait times within his first 100 days in office. On 8 October 2022, the first 100 days had been reached, and Lee had not yet made public announcements on either promise.

A survey released beforehand showed that 49% of people had no-to-low expectations for Lee's policy address. After his policy address, Lee's satisfaction rate for the address was 33.7%, the lowest out of all maiden speeches given by Chief Executives in Hong Kong.

On 19 October 2022, Lee's policy address included measures to prohibit insulting the flag of Hong Kong, update the Civil Service so that employees practice the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong", fund HK$60m in "national education" for kindergartens, and conduct a review on District Councils so that they follow the "patriots-only" principle. When speaking about the Civil Service, Lee said that "There are a number of black sheep in our civil servant force that should be excluded."

Lee also pledged to build 30,000 Light Public Housing (LPH) units within the next five years, units meant for temporary stays of around 5 years and not meant as a long-term solution, unlike traditional public housing. Lee also said he would aim to reduce the wait for public housing from 6 years to 4.5 years within the next 4 years, using a new composite index that would track both LPH and traditional public housing wait times. The Democratic Party warned that the traditional public housing wait times would not be decreased with the introduction of LPH units, and also said that the government was "playing with words and maths" since LPH tenants would still have to be relocated to traditional public housing at the end of their leases. A member of the Liber Research Community also questioned the new metric and temporary housing, stating "Light Public Housing will increase the number of public flats and the wait may seem shorter. But these are just transitional housing supply and it is not "real" public housing." Lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen also raised similar concerns, saying that "So this does not achieve the ultimate aim [of obtaining public housing]. You are just moving people from one place to another. It is just buying time." Lee later said that the LPH and composite index were not meant to "dress up" and lower waiting time statistics. The Housing Authority recommended that the goal for wait times should be 3 years rather than the 4.5 set by Lee. A day after the policy address, officials later admitted that the LPH scheme was created because there was a failure to boost public housing in the next 5 years. The LPH scheme incurred questions from citizens and netizens, saying that the 30,000 units were making up public housing supply numbers. An editorial by SCMP also mentioned criticism of the playing with numbers.

2023 Policy address

In an August 2023 consultation session, figures from the opposition camp were not invited, in contrast to Lee's predecessor, Carrie Lam.

In October 2023, the Hong Kong Free Press reviewed 3 key measures (Care Teams, a mentorship program, and a talent visa) from Lee's 2022 policy address, and found potential issues with all of them.

Several lawmakers said they were disappointed with Lee's policy address, saying it had a lack of a cohesive focus, with Tik Chi-yuen commenting "It seems like the city leader copied and pasted welfare measures proposed by different parties and NGOs to his policy address. You cannot see a well-designed strategy, with timetable and priorities, presented inside the blueprint."

A survey of the public showed that Lee's speech was less satisfactory than his 2022 speech, with 40% of respondents saying they were unsatisfied with his policy address. At the end of Lee's speech, he cited "negativity" from some citizens as the source of some "frustrated" good citizens.

Lawmaker Adrian Ho also criticized the speech, saying that the policy was "overly inward-looking, neglecting Hong Kong’s international development" and "neglected to clarify how the city intends to maintain its transparency and diversity in order to preserve its competitive edge and appeal worldwide." Ho also added that Lee "fails to address the fundamental issues impacting Hong Kong's international reputation and relations."

2024 Policy address

In October 2024, Lee announced two measures designed to inflate property prices: changing the maximum loan-to-value of properties from 60% to 70%, allowing for buyers to borrow more money, and allowing property purchases to partially count as investments under the New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme visa.

Lee also said that democratic reform was "settled" and was "not an issue" during his term.

In response to the government stopping the release of data around the number of people below the poverty line, Lee said "But So far I have not seen any useful poverty line derived from the so-called academic research."

In October 2024, an economist said that Lee's focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) missed qualitative factors, and said that some KPIs, such as setting up committees, "not really substantial achievements"; other KPIs set by Lee did not have deadlines.

Collusion

On 20 October, Lee said "First, the so-called "collusion" mentioned in the question just now is a term used to stir up social conflict during the period of anti-China strife [反中亂港] in Hong Kong, and we have to oppose such destructive discourse of sowing dissension and stirring up conflicts... "Collusion" between X and Y mentioned earlier [by Ambrose Lam] is a deliberate attempt to create social division and contradictions." According to Lee, there is an association between collusion with anti-government protest, whereas some government projects, such as Cyberport, were awarded to a single developer and created complaints of collusion.

Human rights

In November 2022, Glory to Hong Kong was played during a rugby match in Incheon, between the Hong Kong and South Korea rugby teams. Lee said that the "song that was played was closely connected to the 2019 violence and disturbances, and advocacy for Hong Kong's independence," and said that the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau would investigate the matter. In December 2022, Lee said that he would ask Google to remove the song from search results when querying for the national anthem of Hong Kong. After Google denied the request, Lee said that there was a legal basis for Google to do so.

In March 2023, after another incident, Lee said "The national anthem is a matter of dignity, it is a matter that deals with the emotion of our people. And the people, whose feelings will be hurt, must be taken care of." In July 2023, after the Department of Justice lost an attempt in the High Court to have the song banned, Lee said he ordered the Department of Justice to "take follow-up actions as soon as possible."

After the Department of Justice lost multiple appeals in an attempt to block Jimmy Lai from hiring Tim Owen as his lawyer, Lee said that he would ask Beijing's National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) to interpret the national security law to potentially disallow the hiring of foreign lawyers in national security cases. Earlier, three Court of Final Appeal judges, including Chief Justice Andrew Cheung had ruled that Lai be allowed to hire Owen. Lee dismissed concerns that his move to ask the NPCSC to rule in the matter would damage the city's legal reputation, but professor Johannes Chan Man-mun, former law dean of HKU, said that the NPCSC interpretation "may severely compromise Hong Kong as an international city."

Lee also said "The most appropriate way forward is for the NPCSC to issue an interpretation and the case is handled accordingly. This is the approach that is in the best interest of this case and our legal system." When asked about if the decision to get the NPCSC involved would be unfair to Lai, Lee did not comment.

On 28 December 2022, Lee thanked Beijing for including the NCPSC interpretation on their next meeting's agenda. On 30 December 2022, the NPCSC ruled that the Chief Executive now has permission to decide whether or not defendants could hire foreign lawyers; Lee welcomed the ruling and said that foreign lawyers could be a threat due to them coming from "hostile" countries.

Safeguarding National Security Ordinance

The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance was proposed on 8 March 2024 and became law on 23 March under Lee's administration. The law was fulfilled obligations under Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, and gave the government new powers to enforce Chinese national security.

During the election campaign for Chief Executive in April 2022, Lee promised to prioritize the creation of the future security ordinance. However, public consultation did not begin until 30 January 2024.

Lee defended the need for the law throughout 2023, and blamed poor communication of the benefits for causing protests.

Foreign relations

In February 2023, Lee took a trip to the Middle East; later, he wrote an article in South China Morning Post, saying that "Our key message, of course, was that Hong Kong was fully back in business." Earlier, Lee said that he would try his best on the trip to encourage Saudi Aramco to pursue a secondary IPO in Hong Kong. Lee said that his meeting with Aramco was "very positive."

Personal life

In 1980, Lee married his wife, Janet Lam, at the age of 22. This had followed the birth of their elder son, Gilbert. The couple later gave birth to a second son, Jacky. Both sons also received their secondary education at Wah Yan College, Kowloon. Lee hires a domestic helper, who tested positive for COVID-19 in February 2022.

In August 2024, Lee supported the government's position that premarital sex should be avoided.

Lee previously held British citizenship, which he relinquished in August 2012 to follow the legal requirements for assuming the under secretary for security position. However, his wife and two children continue to hold British citizenship, making Lee still eligible for right of abode in the UK.

Lee was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong government in 2017.

When asked in April 2022, Lee did not respond to questions on whether he is Catholic. The following month, he said that he is Catholic.

He is nicknamed "Pikachu" by the Hong Kong anti-establishment faction, as it sounds similar to his Cantonese name "Lee Ka-chiu".

According to his August 2022 declaration of interests, Lee is a "Distinguished Member" of the Hong Kong Club.

Health

In March 2021, Lee underwent surgery to remove plane warts from his neck.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee had the Sinovac vaccine (CoronaVac), receiving his second dose in March 2021 and his third dose in November. He tested positive for the virus a year later in November 2022, after returning from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand. He was given antiviral drugs, and two members of his entourage were deemed close contacts.

Sanctions

In August 2020, Lee and ten other officials were sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 13936 by President Donald Trump for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. He owns a flat at King's Park Villa in Ho Man Tin, bought in 1997 for HK $12.5 million and fully paid off, eliminating possible issues from his bank and the US sanctions.

On 14 October 2020, Lee was listed on a United States Department of State report as one of 10 individuals who materially contributed to the failure of China to meet its obligations under the Sino–British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong's Basic Law.

On 20 April 2022, Lee's YouTube account for his Chief Executive bid, johnlee2022, was removed by Google as they justified that "the move was required by US sanctions" against the ex-security chief. His Facebook and Instagram pages were still functional, but their payment feature was disabled by Meta, who operates the two social media platforms, for reasons similar to Google's. The suspension of Lee's YouTube account was condemned by Foreign Ministry of China spokesperson Wang Wenbin, who accused "certain US companies" of being "political tools" for the U.S. government.

In October 2022, Lee said of the US sanctions that "It is a very barbaric act and I am not going to comment on the effect of such barbaric act" and "We will just laugh off the so-called sanctions." However, in November 2023, Lee said he despised the "unreasonable" sanctions.

Due to the sanctions, Lee was not officially invited to attend the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, United States. Despite receiving a personal invite for the summit, Lee decided to skip due to "scheduling issues" and instead, incumbent Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po represented Hong Kong at the summit. While Chan was meeting with leaders including US President Joe Biden, Lee was seen pictured in Hong Kong with a roasted pig and legislative council members.