By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-29 03:06:03 | Updated at 2024-12-30 19:46:50
1 day ago
Several major events made 2024 an exceptional year in Hong Kong politics, as the city continued to wrestle with the long shadow of the 2019 social unrest, introducing new security legislation and clamping down on activists.
By enacting its domestic Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, the city added to similar legislation imposed by Beijing in the wake of the unrest and fulfilled a constitutional obligation 27 years after its return to Chinese sovereignty.
But the laws continued to place Hong Kong in the crosshairs of attacks by the West amid escalating US-China tensions.
Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs met the city’s business leaders in two high-level meetings this year, gauging tycoons’ views on how to boost the economy, while urging them not to be “bystanders” as the local government pressed for long-term development projects.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu ended the year by sacking two ministers – those in charge of tourism and transport – as he continued his race to deliver concrete results at the halfway mark of his tenure.
Here is what you need to know about Hong Kong’s major political developments this year.
