Steadfastly keeping Hong Kong on the right track
Recognition for outstanding achievements in civil service
Responding to people’s needs
Opening a new chapter for public services
Civil Service Newsletter Editorial Board
Mr Chan said, “I have worked in the Immigration Department for over 30 years, and then as the Director of the fifth-term Chief Executive’s Office for five years. Such rich work experience has equipped me with a number of core attributes that are intrinsic to my role as the CS.”
“First, patriotism and perseverance – this is the fundamental value of the Immigration Department and, indeed, of the Government as a whole in steadfastly safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests. Second, integrity and impartiality – I have been striving for a balance between various stakeholders’ interests while weighing all these against what is in the best interest of Hong Kong. Third, care and cohesion – I have been motivating teammates to work together and do the best for Hong Kong to become a more harmonious and united society. Finally, alertness and awareness – with Hong Kong having gone through the social unrest in 2019, it is necessary for the whole Government to be more alert to threats and dangers, adopt bottom-line thinking, and prepare to cope with any potential challenges coming Hong Kong’s way.”
The skillset developed in the Immigration Department and the Chief Executive’s Office over the years has helped Mr Chan enormously to underpin the administration of the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at present. When it comes to tackling the COVID-19 epidemic in particular, he is able to draw on his rich experience of collaboration with various bureaux and departments, coupled with his proficiency in co-ordinating and motivating colleagues, to drive Hong Kong to overcome challenges ahead and progress steadily along the anti-epidemic path towards normality. He said, “As the CS, I have to play a leading role by guiding civil service colleagues to provide quality services for the public, and intervening proactively to nip problems in the bud for the smooth planning and implementation of policy initiatives.”
In his maiden Policy Address delivered last year, the Chief Executive stressed that we need a capable government that can deliver results to lead Hong Kong to move ahead. Mr Chan said, “We need to enhance our civil service management system to keep up with the times. We will roll out a new award programme to motivate our colleagues, and update the Civil Service Code to clearly spell out the core values and standards of conduct that present-day civil servants should uphold. It is essential to provide all civil servants with clear guidelines, so that they can have a better understanding of what they should do and what they should not do.”
“At the same time, we will enhance training for civil servants. The establishment of the Civil Service College exactly serves to provide civil servants with comprehensive training, so that they can have a deeper understanding of the Government’s policy initiatives and get better equipped to solve problems. The goal is to best respond to the public’s varied needs.”
In terms of work priorities as the CS, Mr Chan said that restoring full normality in the Hong Kong community as soon as possible topped the agenda. He explained, “The social unrest ravaging Hong Kong back in 2019, together with the unprecedented epidemic raging worldwide in these years, has greatly impacted the local economic and social activities. The Government fully understands that the business sector and the community at large keenly look forward to riding out the epidemic as quickly as possible and regaining growth momentum.”
He added, “Thanks to the staunch support from the Central Government and co-operation by all walks of life, stability has been restored in Hong Kong society generally. We have been able to make continuous progress towards normality with a view to creating the greatest room for people’s livelihood and economic activities. Along the way, we have been striving for an appropriate balance between epidemic risks and economic needs, ensuring that our healthcare system will not be overloaded while relaxing our various control measures progressively.”
Since assuming office in July 2022, the current-term Government has been relaxing various anti-epidemic measures in an orderly manner to enable people’s daily lives to steadily resume as normal. With the Government’s precise and risk-based anti-epidemic measures in place, a number of mega events like the Belt and Road Summit, Hong Kong Sevens and Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit have been successfully held one after another since the second half of last year, showing the world that Hong Kong is back at centre stage globally.
Starting late December 2022, the Government introduced further adjustments covering, among other things, the removal of the definition of “close contacts” with no more quarantine orders issued, cancellation of the Vaccine Pass requirement, and lifting of various social distancing measures except mask-wearing. Starting 30 January 2023, the Government cancelled the arrangement of issuing isolation orders. With all such adjustments, Hong Kong has been continuously progressing towards resuming full normality.
To forge ahead with the resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland, the Government set up in late December 2022 a Co-ordination Group on Resumption of Normal Travel led by the CS and comprising members from all 15 policy bureaux. After deliberation and co-ordination with the Central Government, the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, and upon obtaining approval from the Central authorities, the normal travel of people between Hong Kong and the Mainland has resumed in phases since 8 January 2023. The goal is to resume normal travel in a progressive, orderly and comprehensive manner.
President Xi Jinping, in his important speech of 1 July 2022, stressed that Hong Kong, with its special status, enjoys good conditions and broad space for development. The Central Government fully supports Hong Kong in its effort to seize historic opportunities offered by the motherland’s development and actively dovetail itself with the 14th Five-Year Plan and other national strategies such as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and high-quality Belt and Road co-operation. Mr Chan fully agreed that such national development strategies matter so much to Hong Kong, “These strategies are the engine for the further economic growth of Hong Kong. Hong Kong should fully play to her strengths and achieve better integration into the national development.”
He continued, “The current-term Government has set up a Steering Group on Integration into National Development, where the Chief Executive is the chairperson and I, together with the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Justice, are deputy chairpersons, to oversee and drive relevant work from a strategic and macro perspective. We will lead the bureaux and departments concerned to seize the ample development opportunities brought about by the various national strategies to Hong Kong.”
It is important to ensure that the public and major stakeholders of various sectors are fully apprised of the Government’s policy initiatives. Government officials have to devote considerable time and efforts to liaison with them to get the right messages across. Also, bureaux and departments have to actively make use of different channels including press releases and social media platforms to disseminate up-to-date information. Mr Chan said that he met members of the public almost on a daily basis to explain the Government’s policy initiatives as far as he could, so as to appeal to their understanding and obtain their support.
In the same vein, the Government has to maintain close liaison with the Legislative Council (LegCo) to facilitate co-operation. Mr Chan said, “The current-term Government has introduced the arrangement of Ante Chamber exchange sessions, which are generally held on a monthly basis. These sessions enable Principal Officials to have candid face-to-face exchanges with the LegCo members on various topical issues and concerns. Also, I meet with the LegCo House Committee Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson on a weekly basis, explaining to them what the Government is doing and planning to do and exchanging views with them, to strengthen executive-legislative relations.”
As an externally-oriented economy, Hong Kong must look for opportunities beyond herself and tell the world good stories of hers. Mr Chan said, “We are witnessing major changes unfolding in the world, something unseen in a century. We have to double our efforts to promote the strengths, achievements and opportunities of Hong Kong, as well as disseminate accurate and positive messages, to the world. Our mission is to tell the true and good stories of Hong Kong as an international metropolis. The Government’s various economic and trade offices overseas are charged with the important task of conducting external promotion and liaison proactively.”
“Telling the world good stories of Hong Kong is particularly critical to our work of attracting enterprises, investment and talents to the city. As the CS, I have been steadfastly co-ordinating and driving the Government’s policy initiatives to proactively attract talents worldwide to pursue developments in Hong Kong. Such initiatives include establishing a Talents Service Unit to provide one-stop services for incoming talents, and launching a series of new or enhanced talent admission schemes. Leveraging my years of work experience in the Immigration Department, I have every confidence in drawing quality talents to Hong Kong to foster the developments of traditional and emerging industries.”
A key mission for the CS is to ensure that the policy initiatives set out in the Policy Address are taken forward in an orderly and comprehensive manner. Mr Chan said, “The Policy Address is an important blueprint for Hong Kong’s development in the coming five years. Following the release of the Policy Address, I have been earnestly co-ordinating different bureaux and departments in implementing various policy initiatives at full steam with a view to their bearing fruit as early as possible for the betterment of Hong Kong.” The initiatives concerned include trawling the world for talents, pursuing targeted poverty alleviation, and introducing a Primary Healthcare Blueprint and a Youth Development Blueprint.
Mr Chan added that solving the housing problem topped the current‑term Government’s agenda. In the Policy Address, the Chief Executive put forward a host of new initiatives to create supply and address short-term public housing shortage alongside ensuring a steady private housing supply, and enhance quantity, speed, efficiency and quality in land production. Mr Chan said, “The current-term Government is determined to solve the long-standing housing problem beleaguering Hong Kong by thinking out of the box. For instance, the Government is pressing ahead with the new initiative of Light Public Housing. Taking into account both Light Public Housing and traditional public rental housing, the overall public housing production will be boosted substantially by about 50% in the coming five years (2023-24 to 2027-28) as compared with the previous five year period (2022-23 to 2026-27).”
Despite having a demanding work schedule, Mr Chan is able to get things done with equanimity and ease. He said, “Frankly speaking, I spend most of my time working. I am most grateful for the staunch support that my family has been giving me all along. Whenever I have free time, I will strive to spend it with my family. As simple as eating breakfast together or chit-chatting with them can bring me much happiness.”
He added, “I knew very well before taking up the role as the CS that I would be shouldering heavy responsibilities and embracing various challenges in the five years ahead. Dedicated to serving Hong Kong, I shall do my best to ensure the steadfast and successful implementation of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle in Hong Kong and contribute to this city and our motherland.”