Government of Hong Kong

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The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the executive branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the handover of Hong Kong. It is led by the Chief Executive, who together with the principal officials form the Executive Council, which is the government's de facto cabinet.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Chief Executive, who is responsible to both Hong Kong and the Central People's Government in Beijing, is appointed by the State Council of China after being elected by the 1500-member Election Committee. The Chief Executive in turn nominates the principal officials for appointment by the State Council of China.<ref name=":0" /> The Chief Secretary, who is the most senior principal official, leads the Government Secretariat, which contains most of the government's departments and permanent bureaucracy.<ref name=":1" />

Under the principle of separation of powers, members of the government, including both political appointees and civil servants, cannot run for election to the Legislative Council,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to which the government is accountable. The government must rely on the legislature to enact primary legislation and grant supply.<ref name=":0" />

Under the "one country, two systems" constitutional principle, the Government is, in law, exclusively in charge of Hong Kong's internal affairs and specified external relations. The Central People's Government, from which the Hong Kong government is financially independent, is responsible for Hong Kong's defence and foreign policy, while decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress can, in certain circumstances, override Hong Kong courts. The Hong Kong SAR government replaced the former British Hong Kong Government (1842–1997) in 1997. Despite gradually evolving, the general governmental structure was inherited from British Hong Kong.

On February 28, 2024, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan, announced the Special Administrative Region's (SAR) government budget for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025 (“2024–25 Budget”).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Under the 2024-25 budget, total government expenditure is set to rise by 6.7 percent to HK$776.9 billion (US$99.23 billion).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Powers

Historical position (1841-1997)

Template:Wikisource As a crown colony and later a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, the government's executive authority was vested in the British monarch, which was exercised by the governor of Hong Kong as the representative of the Crown. The governor was appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government.<ref name=":1" /> Unlike self-governing dominions, which share a common monarch but a separate monarchy who can only be advised by the government of the dominion in their exercise of executive power, the Crown in right of Hong Kong could be advised by the British government in London, making the British Hong Kong government constitutionally subservient to Westminster. Article VIII of the Hong Kong Letters Patent conferred on the governor a legislative power, authorising him, "by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council", to "make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Colony".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In practice, executive power was exercised by the governor in consultation with the Executive Council, with the imperial government in London rarely directly intervening in the colony's affairs. The governor served as president of the council and effectively appointed all of its members, with the council advising the governor on all policymaking matters. This in effect meant that all policy and administrative matters had to be considered by the Executive Council before being debated by the legislature. The governor-in-council also had the power to make secondary legislation, and to consider appeals, petitions and objections.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After the Handover (1997-present)

Upon the handover of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, sovereignty over the territory was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. The Hong Kong government largely exercised the same powers and functions, but the source of that power shifted from the Crown to the National People's Congress. Article 2 of the Basic Law states that the National People's Congress authorises the HKSAR to enjoy executive power,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> suggesting that Hong Kong does not inherently possess such powers.

The powers and functions to be exercised by the Government of Hong Kong are set out in Article 62 of the Basic Law:<ref name=":0" />

  1. To formulate and implement policies;
  2. To conduct administrative affairs;
  3. To conduct external affairs as authorised by the Central People's Government under [the Basic Law];
  4. To draw up and introduce budgets and final accounts;
  5. To draft and introduce bills, motions and subordinate legislation; and
  6. To designate officials to sit in on the meetings of the Legislative Council and to speak on behalf of the government.

Modern constitutional position

Template:Main While Hong Kong is often described as having a clear separation of powers with three distinct branches of government, the Hong Kong and Chinese governments frequently assert that Hong Kong has an "executive-led" form of governance and insist that Hong Kong has no formal separation of powers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":3" /> The requirement that the Chief Executive's consent be obtained before the introduction of bills relating to government policy in the Legislative Council, the split voting system for private members' bills in the Legislative Council, and restriction on private members' bills relating to public spending or the political structure or operation of the government are sometimes cited as features of the "executive-led" system.<ref name=":2" />

Head of government

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The Chief Executive is the head of the Region and head of government of Hong Kong. The Basic Law designates a system of governance led by a Chief Executive and an Executive Council, under the principles of separation of powers,<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> with a two-tiered system of semi-representative government and an independent judiciary. The Chief Executive is elected by an Election Committee, a 1500-member electoral college consisting of individuals and bodies (i.e. special interest groups) elected within 40 functional constituencies defined in the Basic Law. The winner is then appointed to the position by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. The Chief Executive is responsible for implementing the Basic Law, signing bills and budgets, promulgating laws, making decisions on government policies, and issuing Executive Orders. Then Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, began exercise of her unfettered residual powers of law-making by decree on 4 October 2019, under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, Chapter 241 of the Laws of Hong Kong, bypassing the legislature.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:As of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong officially replaced the Governor of Hong Kong as the head of the government for Hong Kong following the handover. The Chief Executive is assisted by the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Financial Secretary, and other secretaries who heads policy bureaus. The secretaries for each government affairs are appointed by the State Council of China on the nomination of the Chief Executive. The Secretary for Justice (SJ) is responsible for legal matters of the government and prosecution for criminal cases in the territory. The Independent Commission Against Corruption and Audit Commission report directly to the Chief Executive. The current Chief Executive is John Lee.

Ministers and political organs

Executive Council

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The Executive Council decides on matters of policy, the introduction of bills to the Legislative Council and the drafting of subordinate legislation. The Council consists of 21 principal officials and 16 non-official members. All members are appointed by the Chief Executive from among the senior officials of the executive authorities, members of the Legislative Council, and other influential public personnels. They serve for a period no longer than the expiry of the Chief Executive's term of office.<ref name="GovStruct">Template:Cite web</ref>

Principal officials

In a system popularly called the Principal Officials Accountability System introduced by then Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002, all principal officials, including the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice, heads of government bureaux and the Director of the Chief Executive's Office would no longer be politically neutral career civil servants, but would all be political appointees chosen by the Chief Executive from within or outside the civil service. The system was portrayed as the key to solve previous administrative problems, notably the co-operation of high-ranking civil servants with the Chief Executive.

Under the new system, there are 3 Secretaries of department and 13 Directors of Bureaux. The system is aimed at raising the accountability of the civil service, so the political appointees are responsible for all their job aspects and will step down if they make any failure. All heads of bureaux became members of the Executive Council, and came directly under the Chief Executive instead of the Chief Secretary or the Financial Secretary.

Deputy ministers and political assistants

Template:Main The government released a report on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> on 17 October 2007.<ref>"Consultation Document on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System" Template:Webarchive, Hong Kong Government, July 2006</ref> Two new layers, deputy directors of Bureaux and Assistants to Directors (AD) would be added to the political appointments. Each Director of Bureau will be assisted by the two new appointees and constitute the political team, who would ostensibly work closely with bureau secretaries and top civil servants in implementing the Chief Executive's policy agenda in an executive-led government. As with the principal officials, these two new posts may be drawn from within or outside the civil service, and appointees may or may not have a political background.<ref name=attracting>Michael Ng, "Attracting new political talent 'from all sectors'" Template:Webarchive, The Standard, 27 July 2006</ref>

Eight new Under-secretaries were named on 20 May, and nine Political Assistant appointments were announced on 22 May 2008. By the administration's own admission, the announcements were poorly handled, and there was widespread criticism of several key aspects, namely the nationality and experience of appointees, the transparency of the recruitment process and the level of officials' salaries.<ref>Ambrose Leung, "Tsang's assistant may face Legco censure Template:Webarchive", Pg A3, South China Morning Post, 17 June 2008</ref>

Structure

The government takes the form of a three-tier structure, which was first put in place by Governor Murray MacLehose following the recommendations in the McKinsey Report.

The executive as a whole is led by the Chief Executive, who is supported by his three most senior ministers: the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary and Secretary for Justice. Constitutionally known as the "secretaries of departments",<ref name=":0" /> they each oversee multiple policy bureaux and agencies, except for the secretary for justice, who only heads the Department of Justice. The policy bureaux are in turn led by policy secretaries,Template:Efn who are politically appointed ministers. The heads of the bureaux are supported by permanent secretaries, who are the highest-ranking civil servants in the bureaux. The final layer consists of departments, which are overseen by the bureaux, and are led by politically neutral civil servants.

Policy bureaux and departments

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The hierarchical structure of the government secretariat and government departments in Chief Executive John Lee's administration since 1 July 2022 is as follows:

Government secretariat and departments, 2022–present
Government secretariat Government departments
Under the Chief Secretary
for Administration 		Chief Secretary for Administration's Office
Civil Service Bureau
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau
Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau
Education Bureau
  • Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency
Environment and Ecology Bureau
  • Environment Branch
  • Food Branch
Health Bureau
Home and Youth Affairs Bureau
Labour and Welfare Bureau
Security Bureau
Under the Financial
Secretary 		Financial Secretary's Office
Commerce and Economic Development Bureau
Development Bureau
  • Planning and Lands Branch
  • Works Branch
Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau
  • Financial Services Branch
  • The Treasury Branch
Housing Bureau
Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau
Transport and Logistics Bureau

Office of the Chief Executive

The Office of the Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring the Chief Executive receives the best advice and support for formulating and co-ordinating policies. It is headed by the Director of the Chief Executive's Office, who would sit in meetings of the Executive Council.

The Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office, Independent Commission Against Corruption, Audit Commission, Office of the Ombudsman and Public Service Commission report to the Chief Executive directly.

Chief Secretary for Administration's Office

The Human Resources Planning and Poverty Co-ordination Office, Administration Wing and Legal Aid Department are under the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office.

Financial Secretary's Office

The Office of the Government Economist and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority are under the Financial Secretary's Office.

Department of Justice

The Department of Justice is led by the Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong) (Legal Department and Attorney General before the transfer of sovereignty). The Secretary for Justice (SJ) is responsible for all prosecutions in Hong Kong, drafting all government legislation, and advising other policy bureaux and departments of the government on a vast array of legal issues.

The department consists of the Prosecutions Division, the Civil Division, the Constitutional and Policy Affairs Division, the Law Drafting Division, the International Law Division, the National Security Prosecutions Division and the Administration and Development Division.

Policy Bureaux

The current fifteen policy bureaux is a result of the 2022 government reorganisation, which added, expanded, and re-titled several bureaux. Currently, nine bureaux reports to the Chief Secretary for Administration, and the other six reports to the Financial Secretary. The Chief Secretary for Administration is customarily considered to be the leader of the bureaux.

Departments and agencies

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See also

Notes

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References

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