Ahead of the first Executive Council meeting held by the sixth-term Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, John Lee Ka-chiu, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR government, along with the 16 senior unofficial members, met the press, vowing to work on issues such as shortening the quarantine period for arrivals and accelerating the supply of public housing.
Lee and Exco meeting members held the meeting for the first time since the sixth-term HKSAR government officials were sworn in on Friday. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the convenor of the meeting, said 16 senior unofficial members of the meeting are professionals in legislation, public health and finance, who will be unified to “provide the best advice to the CE and cooperate with his work.”
A major issue of concern is Hong Kong’s resumption of international travel and also the border opening with the Chinese mainland given the COVID-19 epidemic over the past two years significantly affected cross-border business and people-to-people exchange. Lee said that as an international city, Hong Kong has been affected by the epidemic, but the city has to contain the epidemic. “If the infection numbers increase, the chance that people being hospitalize will also increase, which will affect the medical system,” he said.
The CE also said he has asked the public health bureau director to pay close attention to relevant numbers and to come up with corresponding plans. Meanwhile, authorities are actively discussing measures to facilitate travelers, including shortening the quarantine period.
Hong Kong’s new Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau posted a blog on Monday expressing hope for the border opening between Hong Kong and the mainland by August 4, noting containing the epidemic in Hong Kong and reducing community transmission are the most important factors for cross-border exchange and border resumption.
“I hope that the epidemic will be controlled and that with the joint cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, more people need to return to the mainland for family reunions,” Lo said.
The health secretary also noted that the daily quotas for the centralized places for quarantine is about 1,300 in Shenzhen, while the country shortened the quarantine time from 14 to seven days, the demand for the quarantine places has increased. And now, local authority in Shenzhen increased the quotas from 1,300 to 2,000.
Other work priority includes increasing housing supply as the housing woes are considered as deeply-seated problems that the Hong Kong society faces. Lee said he will accelerate the housing plan in order to shorten the waiting time for the public houses, and the new HKSAR government will report relevant new ideas within its first 100 days in office.
In responding to the urgent issue, Lee has included two working groups in taking action in both housing and land supplies, and he also stressed that he is not a “slogan”-driven CE.
When asked whether he will enact the legislation of Article 23 in his first year in office, Lee said the HKSAR government has the constitutional responsibility to carry our local legislation work. By taking the most severe national security risk into account, he hopes that the legislation will help deal with any predictable issues, which will not need amendments. The provisions of other countries or regions could be referred to, he said.
John Lee Ka-chiu, the Chief Executive of the HKSAR government, speaks with the press. Photo: HK01.com
