Lam government

Carrie Lam Government
5th Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Date formed	1 July 2017 (2017-07-01)
People and organisations
Head of state	Xi Jinping
Head of government	Carrie Lam
No. of ministers	16
Member parties	DAB, BPA, FTU, LP, NPP
Status in legislature	Pro-Beijing majority
Opposition party	Pro-democracy camp
History
Election	2017 Chief Executive election
Legislature term	6th Legislative Council
Predecessor	Leung administration

The administration of Carrie Lam as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, or Lam administration, officially referred to as "The 5th term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong since the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong headed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2022.

Election

Main article: Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2017

In the 2017 Chief Executive election, Lam received 777 votes in the 1,194-member Election Committee, beating former Financial Secretary John Tsang's 365 votes and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing's 21 votes. Lam was the first female Chief Executive in history, higher than Leung's 689 votes in the last election. She also became the first Chief Executive elected without being the most popular candidate, as she had been trailing behind Tsang in the polls. She pledged to "heal the social divide" and "unite our society to move forward" in her victory speech.

Lam received the appointment from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on 11 April 2017.

Transitional period

The Hong Kong government established the Office of the Chief Executive-elect ahead of the election with a controversial decision to site the temporary office in Hong Kong’s most expensive business area in Champion Tower on Garden Road, Central. Former postmaster general Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei was appointed as the head of the office, who Internet users said looked similar to Carrie Lam.

One day after Lam vowed to "heal the social divide" in her victory speech, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's government pressed charges against nine key players in the 2014 Occupy protests, immediately sparking controversy whether Leung embarrassed Lam. Leung also blocked Carrie Lam’s pledge to scrap Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) for Primary Three pupils.

On 4 May 2017, former Director of Immigration Eric Chan was appointed the Director of the Office of the Chief Executive-elect as well as the Office of the Chief Executive she was sworn in after 1 July.

Cabinet

Carrie Lam announced her cabinet on 21 June 2017.

Carrie Lam announced her new cabinet on 21 June 2017, with six incumbent ministers keep their portfolios including the three top secretaries.

Ministry

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Chief Executive	Carrie Lam	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Chief Secretary for Administration	Matthew Cheung	16 January 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Financial Secretary	Paul Chan	16 January 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Justice	Rimsky Yuen	1 July 2012	6 January 2018		Nonpartisan
	Teresa Cheng	6 January 2018	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for the Environment	Wong Kam-sing	1 July 2012	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Innovation and Technology	Nicholas Yang	20 November 2015	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Home Affairs	Lau Kong-wah	21 July 2015	Incumbent		DAB
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury	James Lau	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Labour and Welfare	Law Chi-kwong	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for the Civil Service	Joshua Law	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Security	John Lee	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Transport and Housing	Frank Chan	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Food and Health	Sophia Chan	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development	Edward Yau	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Development	Michael Wong	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Education	Kevin Yeung	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs	Patrick Nip	1 July 2017	Incumbent		Nonpartisan

Other posts

• Commissioner of Police: Stephen Lo
• ICAC Commissioner: Simon Peh
• Director of Audit: David Sun
• Commissioner of Customs and Excise: Hermes Tang
• Director of Immigration: Erick Tsang

Executive Council non-official members

	Members	Affiliation	Portfolio	Assumed Office	Left Office	Born In	Ref
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Bernard Chan	Nonpartisan	Non-official Convenor of the ExCo	1 July 2012	Incumbent	1951
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Laura Cha	Nonpartisan	Chairman of the Financial Services Development Council	19 October 2004	Incumbent	1949
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Arthur Li	Nonpartisan	Chairman of the Council of the University of Hong Kong	1 July 2012	Incumbent	1945
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Chow Chung-kong	Nonpartisan	Chairman of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing	1 July 2012	Incumbent	1950
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Fanny Law	Nonpartisan	Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks	1 July 2012	Incumbent	1953
bgcolor="Template:Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong/meta/color"|	Jeffrey Lam	BPA	Legislative Council Member & Vice-Chairman of BPA	17 October 2012	Incumbent	1951
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Ip Kwok-him	DAB	Hong Kong Deputy to the National People's Congress & former Vice-Chairman of DAB	17 March 2016	Incumbent	1951
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" |	Martin Liao	Nonpartisan	Legislative Council Member	25 November 2016	Incumbent	1957
bgcolor="Template:LPHK/meta/color"|	Tommy Cheung	Liberal	Legislative Council Member, Chairman of Liberal Party	25 November 2016	Incumbent	1949
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Joseph Yam	Nonpartisan	Executive Vice President of the China Society for Finance and Banking	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1948
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color" |	Lam Ching-choi	Nonpartisan	Chairman of the Elderly Commission	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1960
bgcolor="Template:New People's Party (Hong Kong)/meta/color"|	Regina Ip	NPP	Legislative Council Member & Chairperson of NPP	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1950
bgcolor="Template:Path of Democracy/meta/color"|	Ronny Tong	Path of Democracy	Senior Counsel & Convenor of Path of Democracy	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1950
bgcolor="Template:HKFTU/meta/color"|	Wong Kwok-kin	FTU	Legislative Council Member & former Chairman of FTU	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1952
bgcolor="Template:BPAHK/meta/color"|	Kenneth Lau	BPA	Legislative Council Member & Chairman of Heung Yee Kuk	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1966
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Horace Cheung	DAB	Legislative Council Member & Vice-Chairman of DAB	1 July 2017	Incumbent	1974

Extra fundings

Carrie Lam announced her first policy address in October 2017.

In her first week in office, Carrie Lam offered subsidies to around 40,000 secondary school leavers and promised permanent jobs for more than 2,300 teachers and promised that she would spend the extra HK$5 billion a year on education.

In January 2018, Lam again handed out HK$500 million in extra funding to the Hong Kong’s public hospitals amid the deluge of winter flu cases and a severe shortage of nursing staff. The funds would be drawn by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority from its own reserve of HK$1 billion and would later be reimbursed by the government in the financial year 2018/19.

Oath-taking controversy

Main article: Hong Kong Legislative Council oath-taking controversy

The legal action by the former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen had resulted in the unseating of four more pro-democracy legislators, Leung Kwok-hung, Nathan Law, Yiu Chung-yim and Lau Siu-lai on 14 July 2017 after two pro-independence legislators Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching were ousted from the legislature earlier in November 2016. The event caused the quick deterioration of the relations between the pro-democracy camp and the government after the strained relations had been improved compared to Lam's predecessor. Lam pledged she would not target more pro-democrats in oath-taking controversy.

Localist candidates' disqualification

In the 2018 Legislative Council by-election after the qualification, the candidacy of Demosistō standing committee member Agnes Chow, was invalidated by the returning officer as she claimed that "the candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]." The European Union issued a statement warning that banning Chow from the by-election "risks diminishing Hong Kong’s international reputation as a free and open society". Carrie Lam defended the returning officer's decision, but denied that she had anything to do with the returning officer, stating that "there are absolutely no grounds for that sort of accusation or allegation of pressure."

In the November 2018 Kowloon West by-election, the candidacy of the ousted legislator Lau Siu-lai was also disqualified by the Returning Officer as her advocated for "self-determination" on her 2016 electoral platform. Her ally and elected legislator Eddie Chu, who signed the same statement in the 2016 election, was also barred from running in the rural representative election in December 2018. Lam supported the Returning Officer's decision that "had been made in accordance with the Rural Representative Election Ordinance."

Express Rail Link co-location controversy

The proposed "co-location arrangement" of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has sparked concerns that it might constitute a breach of the Hong Kong Basic Law and undermine Hong Kong's autonomy of "one country, two systems", participially with immigration control. Under the arrangement, mainland customs officers will be allowed to set up checkpoints and exercise jurisdiction at the West Kowloon Station.

On 28 December 2017, the Hong Kong Bar Association criticised the arrangement for distortion of the Basic Law, stating it damages the rule of law in Hong Kong as Article 18 was clearly written and leaves no room for any interpretation which would allow Chinese law to apply in any certain part of HKSAR. Since there is no legal basis, confidence in the "one country, two systems" principle will decline. The Hong Kong government has defended the co-location agreement, stating that rule of law isn't damaged nor does undermine the Basic Law. Carrie Lam responded to criticism by stating "some Hong Kong legal professionals have an elitist mentality or double standards, that is, they think that Hong Kong’s legal system is supreme, and that the mainland legal system – a big country with a 1.3 billion population – is wrong." Her statement prompted widespread disbelief as she appeared to defend China's legal system being better than Hong Kong's legal system, hypocrisy as she herself is seen as an elite out of touch with society, damaged the One Country, two systems principle and for attacking the character rather the arguments of Hong Kong's top lawyers.

The long-debated plan was finally passed on 14 June 2018 in the Legislative Council by 40 to 20 votes after Legislative Council President Andrew Leung capped debate time for the bill at 36 hours to counter pro-democrats' filibustering. The cross-border Express Rail Link was opened on 22 September 2018, followed by the opening of another cross-border infrastructure Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge on 23 October 2018 by President Xi Jinping. Lam entering the venue side-by-side with Xi and ahead of Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui and Vice Premier Han Zheng. The entrance raised eyebrows among those who saw it as a departure from protocol for her to walk in front of top mainland officials.

National Anthem Bill

Main article: National Anthem Bill

The Hong Kong government has proposed the local implementation of the National Anthem Law of the People's Republic of China. Lam dismissed the calls for a public consultation for the controversial bill as some provisions deemed as too vague by the pro-democrats. Lam stated that "I do not understand why one has to insist on the term 'public consultation'," calling the term only a "label". She also insisted the proposed bill only targets people who deliberately insult the national anthem and the residents not to worry about it.

Lantau Tomorrow Vision

Main article: Lantau Tomorrow Vision

In October 2018, Lam launched a development plan in her second policy address which suggested the construction of artificial islands with a total area of about 1,700 hectares through massive land reclamation near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau of the eastern waters of Lantau Island. The project meets with controversies and opposition for its high cost of estimated HK$500 billion (US$63.8 billion) – amounting to half of the city’s fiscal reserves, as well as environmental concerns.

UGL case controversy

Main article: Leung Chun-ying–UGL agreement

On 12 December 2018, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) announced it would not take any "further investigative action" against Leung Chun-ying over his recipient of HK$50 million from the Australian firm UGL, ending the four-year marathon probe. The Department of Justice also issued a statement claiming there was "insufficient evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction" against Leung for any criminal offence.

Carrie Lam defended Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng who was strongly criticised for not following the conventional procedure of seeking external legal advice in the UGL case. Lam said Cheng had made a profession call and she hoped the UGL saga, which had been a point of contention for four years, could finally end.

Elderly CSSA and $4,000 handout controversies

In January 2019, the Lam administration announced that the age threshold for elderly Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) would jump from 60 to 65, starting in February. She faced opposition from both the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy legislators, in which she responded that it was the Legislative Council who approved the change in the CSSA scheme, as part of the 2018 Budget. Her remarks attracted backlashes from the legislators as well as the public. On 18 January, Lam backed down by announcing that people affected would get a new employment support supplement that would cover the cut. The Lam government also made an U-turn by suspending the controversial plan to impose a HK$200 penalty on Hong Kong’s senior citizens claiming welfare payments without joining a job programme.

The government was also under fire by the HK$4,000 handout scheme proposed in the 2018 Budget in which adult residents would get up to HK$4,000 if they do not own property or get government benefits. The application procedure was criticised for being too complicated. Applicants were initially required to provide an address proof. Facing the criticism, the government later waived the address proof requirement.

Amid the UGL case and the mismanagements, the average score of Carrie Lam further plunged to a new low in mid January to 50.9 in the poll by the University of Hong Kong, dropping 5.5 points from the previous month. Her net approval rating fell 21 percentage points to a new low. In another poll conducted by Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lam scored the lowest point of only 50.9 per cent – 1.8 percentage points lower than the previous month,