“It actually indicators (authorities) are intensifying that heavy-handed strategy to Hong Kong, and placing the so-called nationwide safety as their coverage for governing town,” Regulation mentioned.

An increase years within the making

The forces behind Lee’s rise to town’s high job might be traced again practically half a century.

Lee joined the Hong Kong police power as a 19-year-old recruit in 1977 as town — then a British colony — underwent an financial transformation into a contemporary monetary heart.

He rose by the ranks and was promoted to chief superintendent in 1997 — the identical yr Britain handed town to China in a pomp-filled ceremony watched all over the world.

Since that watershed yr, activists like Regulation say they’ve watched Hong Kong’s freedoms be squeezed ever tighter. All of the whereas, Lee continued gaining prominence, changing into deputy commissioner, the second-highest place within the police power, by 2010.

Simply two years after that, he joined town’s Safety Bureau as under-secretary. To some, the appointment of a high-ranking police officer to a key authorities workplace was an announcement of intent.

“We have been already actually nervous about that, as a result of that actually signaled a change in Hong Kong’s coverage, altering it in a seemingly extra suppressive method,” Regulation mentioned.

By 2016, when Regulation was elected into the legislature, Lee “was already notoriously troublesome to cope with” and appeared hostile to any journalists or opposition lawmakers who raised questions or challenges, Regulation mentioned.

Lee’s supporters have disputed this characterization, sustaining his time within the police power helped put together him for a public workplace.

At a short political rally on Friday, Lee, whose slogan is “We and us — a brand new chapter collectively,” confused the significance of neighborhood and promised to “make Hong Kong a spot of hope” as soon as appointed.

CNN has reached out to Lee’s marketing campaign workforce for remark.

The 2019 protests

Lee’s rise continued when he was appointed safety chief in 2017 — the “starting of a altering development,” mentioned Joseph Cheng, a retired Hong Kong tutorial and pro-democracy activist now based mostly in New Zealand.

“Beijing appears to be emphasizing loyalty extra, or the potential of implementing a tough line — subsequently, senior officers from the disciplinary forces seem to occupy a extra advantageous place,” Cheng mentioned.

It was beneath Lee’s tenure that the Safety Bureau launched the controversial extradition invoice that led to the protests in 2019.

Critics frightened Beijing may use the invoice to prosecute Hong Kong residents for political causes beneath China’s opaque authorized system.

With the Hong Kong authorities standing agency on the invoice regardless of public objections, the protests rapidly expanded right into a broader pro-democracy, anti-government motion. Fears have been underpinned by widespread nervousness about Beijing’s rising affect and the perceived erosion of Hong Kong’s cherished semi-autonomous standing, which allowed it the freedoms of press, speech and meeting that had lengthy been central to its worldwide attraction.

Withdrawing the invoice was simply one in every of 5 in style calls for by protesters; others included common suffrage and accountability from police, who confronted accusations of brutality they’ve denied.

On the top of the disaster, protesters and police clashed practically each week, with demonstrators lobbing bricks and Molotov cocktails and officers responding with tear gasoline, rubber bullets, and at instances dwell ammunition. The violence polarized town, cementing the breakdown in belief between the general public and the authorities.

Lee has repeatedly defended the power’s actions, insisting critics must “take into consideration the (previous occasions), in any other case it is not going to be honest.”

“I’m pleased with the Hong Kong police power. They continue to be Asia’s most interesting … In comparison with what they do with legislation enforcement businesses abroad, I believe they’ve exercised restraint. They’ve minimized the hurt and accidents to all people,” he mentioned in September 2019.

Lengthy arm of the nationwide safety legislation

Lee gained native prominence for his position in combating the protests — however his implementation of the nationwide safety legislation cemented his repute as a hardline enforcer and Beijing loyalist.

The safety legislation was promulgated by Beijing in June 2020, throughout a lull within the protests introduced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Described by the Hong Kong authorities on the time as “a vital step to ending chaos,” the legislation criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with international forces — and permits for optimum sentences of life imprisonment.

Every week after the raid, Lee was promoted to chief secretary — the second-highest place in authorities — and the primary time a safety official has taken the position.

Specialists say Lee’s suppression of the protests and assist for nationwide safety is exactly why he now finds himself town’s subsequent chief.

“(That is) the reward for loyalty,” mentioned Cheng, the activist and former tutorial.

Supporters of the safety legislation insist it has helped set up stability within the wake of the violence and political unrest of 2019. “Individuals’s lives and property are protected, they usually can as soon as once more get pleasure from their reliable rights and freedoms,” a authorities spokesperson mentioned in April in response to a query on the legislation.

However Lee’s affiliation with the legislation has been met with growing scrutiny overseas. He was amongst practically a dozen individuals sanctioned by the US in 2020 for undermining town’s autonomy and democratic processes — which Lee has scoffed at, just lately calling the sanctions “unreasonable” and “acts of bullying.”

The nationwide safety legislation “has restored peace,” Lee informed the United Nations Human Rights Council in March, decrying the 2019 protests as “evil” and lauding “the improved electoral system.”

“No nation has a monopoly on the mannequin of democracy,” he added.

What this implies for Hong Kong

Lee has already made clear the form of authorities he’ll form: one with more and more shut ties to mainland China.

On the unveiling of his coverage manifesto on April 29, Lee emphasised the necessity to combine Hong Kong with different economically necessary Chinese language cities. There was no English translation offered, regardless of English being one in every of Hong Kong’s two official languages — in putting distinction to most authorities occasions so far.

He additionally vowed to bolster safety laws and introduce “nationwide identification” training. Each proposals have lengthy been controversial, with earlier makes an attempt to introduce laws foiled by protests and pushback — a lot to Beijing’s frustration.

Regardless of this, the outgoing Chief Govt Lam continues to assert that Hong Kong’s media sphere is “as vibrant as ever,” although she warned final week that “media organizations usually are not above the legislation … together with the nationwide safety legislation.”

Lee can even should navigate the Covid-19 pandemic, with endurance fraying amongst many in Hong Kong after greater than two years of stringent restrictions in accordance with China’s unbending zero-Covid coverage.

At his coverage manifesto occasion, Lee asserted that “sooner or later (the virus) will probably be beneath management,” and that he would design measures to permit companies to function.

Cheng, the pro-democracy activist who moved to New Zealand, sees the longer term as being “the continuation of the laborious line of the previous two years.”

“There isn’t a toleration of political opposition … there will probably be little or no tolerance of an unbiased media, and little or no tolerance for the operation of civil society organizations,” Cheng mentioned.

When requested by CNN about accusations of diminished political freedoms, a authorities spokesperson responded that the rights of Hong Kong residents are “protected in accordance with the legislation” — however that “many freedoms and rights usually are not absolute, and might be restricted for causes together with safety of nationwide safety and public security.”

Disillusionment and emigration

Amongst former activists and pro-democracy supporters, there is a sense of despair as Lee prepares to take workplace.

“It is positively not, by any means or any parameters, a democratic (course of),” mentioned Regulation, the previous lawmaker. “It is actually simply an appointment. I do not actually name it an election.”

Lee has dodged questions on whether or not he was handpicked by the central Chinese language authorities, saying in April he welcomed anyone else who wished to run.

After the turmoil of the previous three years, even a brand new administration is unlikely to bridge the damaged relationship between the federal government and its individuals, mentioned John Burns, emeritus professor on the College of Hong Kong.

“There’s a large proportion of the inhabitants that’s alienated and indignant,” he mentioned, pointing to mass emigration as “proof of alienation … of a sick society.”

Whereas Hong Kong’s harsh Covid restrictions are serving to drive this exodus, Lee’s critics say that so too is the crackdown on civil liberties he enforced.

Requested about this on April 29, Lee brushed it off. He claimed Hong Kong had at all times seen excessive ranges of mobility, and that its proximity to the mainland market would proceed to draw companies.

“We’re an inclusive metropolis,” he informed reporters. “Collectively, we begin a brand new chapter for Hong Kong.”