Government of Hong Kong

Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Traditional Chinese	Trung hoa nhân dân cộng hòa quốc hương cảng đặc biệt hành chính khu chính phủ
Simplified Chinese	Trung hoa nhân dân cộng hòa quốc hương cảng đặc biệt hành chính khu chính phủ
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Xiānggǎng Tèbié Xíngzhèng Qū Zhèngfǔ
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	zung1waa4jan4man4gung6wo4gwok3hoeng1gong2dak6bit6hang4zing3keoi1zing3fu2
Hong Kong Government
Traditional Chinese	Hương cảng chính phủ
Simplified Chinese	Hương cảng chính phủ
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Xiānggǎng Zhèngfǔ
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	hoeng1gong2zing3fu2

TheGovernment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China,commonly theHong Kong Government,is led by theChief ExecutiveasHead of the Government,who is also the head of the Hong KongSAR.The affairs of the Government are decided bysecretaries,who are appointed by the Chief Executive and endorsed by theCentral People's Governmentin Beijing. Under the "One Country, Two Systems"policy, Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy. The Hong Kong Government, financially independent from theGovernment of the People's Republic of China,oversees the affairs of Hong Kong.

Head of government

TheChief Executiveis the head of government of the Hong Kong. TheBasic Lawdesignates a system of governance led by a Chief Executive and anExecutive Council,with a two-tiered system of semi-representative government and an independent judiciary. The Chief Executive is elected by anElection Committee,an 800-memberelectoral collegeconsisting of individuals and bodies (i.e. special interest groups) elected within 28functional constituenciesdefined in the Basic Law. The winner is then appointed to the position by theCentral People's Government 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. He is assisted in policy making by the Executive Council.^[1]

As of 1 July 1997, theChief Executive of Hong Kongofficially replaced theGovernor of Hong Kongas the head of the government for Hong Kong from thetransfer of sovereignty.The Chief Executive is assisted by theChief Secretary for Administrationand theFinancial Secretary,and othersecretarieswho heads policy bureaux. The secretaries for each government affairs are appointed by the Chief Executive and endorsed by the Central People's Government. TheSecretary for Justice(SJ) is responsible for legal matters of the government and prosecution for criminal cases in the territory. TheIndependent Commission Against CorruptionandAudit Commissionreport directly to the Chief Executive. The current Chief Executive isDonald Tsang.

Executive

Executive Council

TheExecutive Councildecides on matters of policy, the introduction of bills to theLegislative Counciland the drafting of subordinate legislation. The Council consists of 15 principal officials and 14 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.^[1]

Principal officials

In a system popularly called thePrincipal Officials Accountability Systemintroduced by then Chief ExecutiveTung Chee Hwain July 2002, all principal officials, including the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice and heads of government bureaux 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 cooperation of high ranking civil servants with the Chief Executive.

Under the new system, there are 3 Secretaries of Department and 12 Directors of Bureau. 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. Under the new system, 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

The government released a report on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System^[2]on 17 October 2007,.^[3]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 theChief Executive's policy agenda in an executive-led government. As with the principal officials, these 2 new posts can also be drawn from within or outside the civil service, and appointees may be with or without political background.^[4]

Eight new Under-secretaries were named on 20 May, and nine Political Assistant appointments were announced on 22 May 2008. By its own admission, the announcements have been poorly handled, and there has been widespread criticism of several key aspects of the appointments, namely the nationality and experience of appointees, the transparency of the recruitment process and of officials' salaries.^[5]

Chief secretary

The Chief Secretary for Administration is responsible for assisting the Chief Executive in supervision of policy bureaux, and plays a key role in ensuring harmony in policy formulation and implementation. The current Chief Secretary, since 1 July 2007, is the Honourable MrHenry Tang Ying-nian

Financial secretary

The Financial Secretary is responsible for preparing the Government Budget in accordance with the Chief Executive's agenda in the policy address, ensuring policy is in accordance to the Public Finance Ordinance. He has to estimate of revenue and expenditure before the Legislative Council each year, and to deliver an annual budget to the Legislative Council, outlining the government's budgetary proposals and moving the appropriation bills. The current FS is the HonourableJohn Tsang.

Secretary for Justice

The Secretary for Justice is responsible for prosecutions and legal matters. He or she heads theDepartment of Justice.

Government offices and policy bureaux

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.

Financial Secretary's Office

TheEconomic Analysis and Business Facilitation Unitis under the Financial Secretary's Office.

Department of Justice

TheDepartment of Justiceis led by theSecretary for Justice(Legal Departmentand 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 current Secretary for Justice is the HonourableWong Yan LungSC.

The department consists of the Prosecutions Division, the Civil Division, the Legal Policy Division, the Law Drafting Division, the International Law Division, and the Administration and Development Division.

Government secretariat

After thereorganisationin 2007, theGovernment Secretariattoday consists of twelve policy bureaux. Nine of which reports to theChief Secretary,and the other three reports to theFinance Secretary.The Chief Secretary is customarily considered to be the leader of the bureaux.

Departments and agencies

References

^^a ^b"GovHK: Government Structure".Retrieved25 October2009.
^Report on Further Development of the Political Appointment System
^"Consultation Document on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System",Hong Kong Government, July 2006
^Michael Ng,"Attracting new political talent `from all sectors'",The Standard, 27 July 2006
^Ambrose Leung, "Tsang's assistant may face Legco censure", Pg A3,South China Morning Post,17 June 2008

External links

[GovStruct-1] "GovHK: Government Structure".Retrieved25 October2009.

[2] Report on Further Development of the Political Appointment System

[3] "Consultation Document on the Further Development of the Political Appointment System",Hong Kong Government, July 2006

[attracting-4] Michael Ng,"Attracting new political talent `from all sectors'",The Standard, 27 July 2006

[5] Ambrose Leung, "Tsang's assistant may face Legco censure", Pg A3,South China Morning Post,17 June 2008

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v t e Government of Hong Kong
Executive Council Government Secretariat Government agencies
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Central bank	Hong Kong Monetary Authority
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Statutory bodies in Hong Kong Hong Kong Civil Service Administrative Officer

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