Hong Kong Leader Goes to Shenzhen to Discuss Election, SCMP Says
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam visited Shenzhen to meet senior mainland officials about the city's impending leadership election, the South China Morning Post reported, a signal Beijing may have decided her political future.
Lam departed Friday morning to meet Xia Baolong, the top Chinese official in charge of Hong Kong affairs, to discuss the May 8 vote and pandemic work, the report said, citing unidentified individuals. The city's leader had canceled her daily Covid briefing due to unspecified scheduling changes.
Her trip over the border comes after President Xi Jinping's top leadership convened twice this week. On Monday, the Politburo's 25 members discussed the Hong Kong election and other key provincial-level reshuffles, the Post reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Politburo's seven-strong Standing Committee then made a final decision Thursday that was forwarded to Lam, the newspaper added.
Xi Keeps China Investors Guessing With Mystery Politburo Meeting
Hong Kong's election season officially begins Sunday, when the nomination period opens after a near-two month delay due to the city's Covid crisis. Contenders will have two weeks to declare their candidacy and secure at least 188 votes from a committee of 1,500 largely pro-Beijing electors.
No major candidate has yet put their name forward, and at a Sunday briefing Lam hinted she might not seek another five-year term. “If the next government needs my opinion,” she said of the city's Covid outbreak, “I will be happy to provide.”
The next chief executive will face growing pressure to tackle the Hong Kong's income equality gap and housing supply in the world's most expensive residential market -- key criteria laid down by Xia in July. They must also balance instructions from mainland officials to adhere to China's strict strategy on Covid, while trying to revive the city's international business hub status.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
