The politics of Hong Kong takes place in a framework of a political system dominated by its quasi-constitutional document, the Hong Kong Basic Law, its own legislature, the Chief Executive as the head of government and of the Special Administrative Region and of a politically constrained multi-party presidential system. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is led by the Chief Executive, the head of government.
Tung Chee-hwa is a Hong Kong businessman and retired politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He served as a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) between 2005 and 2023.
The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus services, centred around a 10-line rapid transit network, serving the urbanised areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. The system encompasses 245.3 km (152.4 mi) of railways, as of December 2022, with 179 stations—including 99 heavy rail stations, 68 light rail stops and 1 high-speed rail terminus.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation is a Hong Kong wholly government-owned railway and land asset manager. It was established in 1982 under the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation Ordinance for the purposes of operating the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR), and to construct and operate other new railways. On 2 December 2007, the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), another railway operator in Hong Kong, took over the operations of the KCR network under a 50-year service concession agreement, which can be extended. Under the service concession, KCRC retains ownership of the KCR network with the MTRCL making annual payments to KCRC for the right to operate the network. The KCRC's activities are governed by the KCRC Ordinance as amended in 2007 by the Rail Merger Ordinance to enable the service concession agreement to be entered into with the MTR Corporation Limited.
Antony Leung Kam-chungGBS OBE JP is a businessman who served as Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), from 29 May 2001 until his resignation on 16 July 2003.
Henry Tang Ying-yen is a Hong Kong politician who served as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong between 2007 and 2011. He held the position of Financial Secretary from 2003 to 2007. In 2012, he lost the Hong Kong Chief Executive Election to Leung Chun-ying.
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012.
Andrew Li Kwok-nang is a retired Hong Kong judge, and a former Chief Justice of Hong Kong, who was the first to preside over the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, established on 1 July 1997. Li was succeeded by Geoffrey Ma on 1 September 2010.
MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hong Kong Exchange and is a component of the Hang Seng Index. The MTR additionally invests in railways across different parts of the world, including franchised contracts to operate rapid transit systems in London, Stockholm, Beijing, Hangzhou, Taipa, Shenzhen, Sydney, and a suburban rail system in Melbourne.
Hung Hom is a passenger railway station in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is an interchange station between the East Rail line and the Tuen Ma line domestic services of the MTR network, as well as the southern terminus of cross-border through-trains to mainland China which has been suspended since 4 February 2020. The station is one of four Hong Kong ports of entry on the MTR network; the others are Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau, and West Kowloon. This station serves the southern terminus of the East Rail Line in early morning before the first northbound train from Admiralty arrives. As the station is located next to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel's northern portal, it is also served by many cross-harbour bus routes.
Sir David Li Kwok-poGBM GBS OBE JP is a Hong Kong banker and politician. He is the executive chairman of the Bank of East Asia and pro-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and the Executive Council of Hong Kong in the 2000s.
John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP is a Hong Kong former senior civil servant and government official who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR to date, from 2007 to 2017.
Standard Chartered Hong Kong is a licensed bank incorporated in Hong Kong and a subsidiary of Standard Chartered. It is also one of the three commercial banks licensed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to issue banknotes for the Hong Kong dollar.
The Political Appointments System is a scheme introduced in 2008 by the Hong Kong Government to reinforce its ministerial team by superseding the Principal Officials Accountability System and inserting two layers of politically appointed officials below the secretaries, who are political appointees. These appointees report only to the secretaries, but not the permanent secretaries, the highest-ranking civil servants. The appointment of undersecretaries and political assistants is an extension of the previous RPAS that was initially confined to principal officials. Prior to the introduction, there were 14 political appointees—3 Secretaries of Departments and 11 Directors of Bureaux.
The Second term of Donald Tsang as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, officially referred to as "The 3rd term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2012. Former civil-servant Donald Tsang was the Chief Executive throughout the duration.
Since the British colonialisation in 1841 after the First Opium War, Hong Kong has grown from a stony outcrop on the southern coast of China to a territory whose property prices are among the highest in the world. The territory has a land mass of 1,111 km2 (429 sq mi). According to government figures as at 2018, most of the land in Hong Kong is woodland, shrubland and grassland – much of which designated as country parks such as Lion Rock, Plover Cove Country Park and Sai Kung East Country Park, and only approximately 25% of the land mass out of the total territory is classed as "built-up". Most of the 7.3 million people in Hong Kong inhabit an area measuring 78 km2 (30 sq mi). Excluding rural settlement housing, which represents 7% of the city's total domestic households, the remainder of the population is effectively squeezed into an area of 42 km2 (16 sq mi). Property developers play a direct role in housing in Hong Kong, including the hoarding of approximately 1,000 hectares of agricultural land which could otherwise be used for housing.
The 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election was held on 26 March 2017 for the 5th term of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE), the highest office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Former Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam beat former Financial Secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, receiving 777 votes from the 1,194-member Election Committee.
Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, JP is a Hong Kong solicitor and politician and the former vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong. He was elected to Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 2016 through the Hong Kong Island constituency, and re-elected in 2021 through the Election Committee constituency. He is the current Deputy Secretary for Justice.
The history of the South Island line and West Island line encompasses a number of proposals which were made for extending the Hong Kong MTR metro system to the south and west of Hong Kong Island, which were not serviced by any rail transport before 2014. The West Island line opened as an extension of the Island line on 28 December 2014. The South Island line has completed construction and commenced service on 28 December 2016. The proposed South Island line (West) is still in the planning phase and is expected to begin in 2021.
Events in the year 2018 in Hong Kong.
