‘Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis plan, national security will be high on the agenda’ in John Lee’s duty visit to Beijing

Over the next few days, the city leader is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, who took office in March. He has recently been named head of the Central Financial Commission, which was set up by the Communist Party earlier this year to supervise and manage the country’s financial system.

Lee is also expected to meet Executive Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, the sixth-ranked member of the ruling Communist Party and the top leader in charge of the party’s Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Hong Kong leader John Lee to make second duty visit to Beijing on Sunday

Throughout the year, Lee’s administration has pushed forward the Northern Metropolis plan in an effort to increase the city’s housing supply and speed up integration across the border.

An office set up to coordinate interdepartmental efforts earlier this year unveiled an action plan for the mega project, pledging to yield more than 500,000 new homes in the planned new towns across the northern New Territories.

The four major zones under the scheme include innovation and technology, high-end professional services and logistics, as well as commerce and industry.

Lee has also vowed to enact Hong Kong’s own national security law in 2024, four years after Beijing imposed wide-ranging legislation to punish secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Under Article 23 of the Basic Law – the city’s mini-constitution – Hong Kong is required to enact its own law combating seven security-related crimes, including treason and espionage. Legislative efforts in 2003 were shelved after half a million residents took to the streets to protest the move.

The four-day trip marks Lee’s first duty visit since the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office was reformed earlier in March to report directly to the Communist Party, instead of the State Council.

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Last December, Xi gave his approval of Lee’s first six months of leadership during the city leader’s maiden duty visit, which took place when pressure was piling on the chief executive to reopen Hong Kong’s border with the mainland and overseas during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Xi urged Hong Kong to pursue “extensive international cooperation” and stressed the importance of building an efficient government, while then premier Li Keqiang asked Lee to further integrate into the national development plan.

Lee, accompanied by Carol Yip Man-kuen, director of the Chief Executive’s Office, and Kevin Choi, his private secretary, will return to Hong Kong on Wednesday night.

Macau’s Chief Executive Ho la Seng also began his annual duty visit to Beijing on Sunday and will return on Tuesday.