Hong Kong Tycoons Heed China, Endorse John Lee to lead City
Hong Kong Tycoons Throw Support for John Lee to Be City’s Leader
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s tycoons threw their support behind the city’s leading chief executive candidate who local media say is Beijing’s pick for the job, in their latest show of loyalty to China.
A slew of property moguls on Thursday endorsed John Lee including the leaders of Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., the CK Group, Henderson Land Development Co. and New World Development Co. The families running those empires have a combined fortune of more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
China’s cabinet approved Lee’s resignation from the chief secretary post on April 7, on the recommendation of outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam, the Hong Kong government said in a statement. Lee is the only candidate so far in the May 8 vote when a committee of some 1,500 mostly Beijing loyalists will select the financial hub’s next leader.
Beijing hasn’t yet named a replacement for Lee’s position, Lam said at a daily press conference Friday.
Hong Kong’s once all-powerful tycoons have been increasingly vocal about subservience to Beijing as their political and economic clout waned in recent years. Beijing’s overhaul of the city’s Election Committee last year also diluted the tycoons’ voting power and the political clout they once had.
Separately, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Standing Committee, Tam Yiu-chung, was tapped by Lee to serve as his campaign manager, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified individuals. Former constitutional and mainland affairs minister Raymond Tam, would service as the campaign’s deputy director, according the SCMP.
Besides the tycoons, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce on Friday issued a statement backing Lee’s bid.
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