Do we like John Lee Ka-chiu?
Our score: 2 out of 10. A record of enforcing a sweeping security crackdown on critics, with a little real good in the same-sex bill he backed and the fire inquiry he ordered.
John Lee is a career policeman who became Hong Kong's security chief and is now its Chief Executive. The US Treasury sanctioned him in August 2020, saying he had introduced a new police unit dedicated to enforcing the national security law. That is the thing he is best known for, and it sets the tone for everything else.
Go back to the 2019 protests, when he was security secretary. Human Rights Watch said he showed “blatant disregard for people's safety”. It said he insisted police had been “tolerant” and backed the police's own complaints mechanism over an independent investigation. That is HRW's reading, and he has never accepted it.
In July 2023 he backed police bounties of HK$1 million each on eight activists living overseas. He said the only way out for them was to surrender, and that friends and relatives could qualify for the bounties by passing on information. The US and UK objected, and Australia's Penny Wong said she was “deeply concerned”. Lee said he was not swayed by political pressure.
The harm check runs through his response to dissent. After Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in February 2026, Lee said Lai had committed “numerous heinous crimes”. The UN human rights chief said the verdict should be “promptly quashed”. After the Tai Po fire, a 24-year-old student was reportedly arrested on suspicion of “seditious intent” for handing out flyers demanding a review of construction oversight. He was later released. Amnesty and HRW urged authorities not to treat people demanding answers as criminals.
On LGBTQ+ rights the picture is mixed. After a top-court ruling, Lee backed a bill giving limited recognition to same-sex couples and said the government “must not act in violation” of the court. He also said marriage in Hong Kong is between one man and one woman. LegCo threw the bill out 71 to 14 in September 2025, and activists had said it was too thin to meet the court's framework anyway.
The Tai Po fire is the big recent test. After the blaze, Lee announced a judge-led independent committee and said those behind the renovation had mixed substandard netting with approved netting. The fire killed 168 people. Ahead of the report, the inquiry's lead counsel wrote that the government “bears a share of the responsibility”. Lee has pledged to “pursue accountability”. His first five-year plan and policy address were released together on 16 September.