Hong Kong leader John Lee just got a to-do list from Xi Jinping. Now, he must take ‘concrete action’ to solve housing and help young people, analysts and residents say
- Action needed to deal with housing shortages and boost social mobility, Xi tells new Hong Kong government
- Xi lays down a series of key expectations for the new administration to work on
Hong Kong’s new government must take concrete action in tackling the city’s housing shortage and improving young people’s upward mobility, legislators and residents said after Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a detailed to-do list for John Lee Ka-chiu’s administration.
In his 3,700-word speech on Friday, Xi laid down four expectations for the next administration to work on. The president said Lee’s administration had to improve governance, strengthen the momentum of development, solve people’s livelihood problems and uphold harmony and stability, especially for young people.
Xi added: “What the people of Hong Kong desire the most is a better life, a bigger apartment, more business start-up opportunities, better education for kids and better elderly care. What the people call for, we must strive to deliver.”
Analysts later said it was the most “specific” and “comprehensive” checklist that state leaders had given the Hong Kong government since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organisation, a non-governmental group set up to campaign for the rights of the underprivileged, said she hoped the new administration would take the housing problem more seriously in light of Xi’s speech.