Sha Banshan's Notes 〡 Lam Cheng's accountability team "constantly secretive" weakened Tamar ship lacks 3 people and often speculates on cars

Political situation

Written by: Sha Banshan

2020-09-03 07:00

Last update date: 2020-09-03 07:00

Under "One Country, Two Systems", although Hong Kong does not have national defense or diplomacy, it is comparable to a small European country in terms of population, and its gross product (GDP) is higher than 80% of the world’s countries, but the level of governance may only belong to a small county. The level is impressive.

Sha Banshan talked with people in the political circle. One of the common points is that the current accountability and governance team is inherently flawed. In particular, the lack of three insignificant but important roles makes the Lam Cheng government feel like The absence of the "brake switch" has led to frequent speculation in the car, and it is hard to return.

The level of government governance is inadequate, and political crises are often caused.

1. News coordinator seizes the air supremacy of public opinion

Sha Banshan mentioned yesterday that one of the failures of Lam Cheng in forming an accountability team was to delete the post of news coordinator.

A competent news coordinator is not only responsible for presiding over press conferences, but also coordinating all major political and public opinion wars, from establishing relations with the media, calculating the best time for the introduction of hot policies, and setting issues (agenda setting) to The monitoring of public opinion after the policy is "out of the street" and the recruitment of tricks are one of the three pillars of major policy success (the other two pillars are the quality of the policy and the implementation process).

In short, it is to seize the power of public opinion.

The news coordinator is a newly created position by the first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa after the return. So far, four people have served in official positions, namely Lin Ruilin, He Anda, Deng Huijun, and Feng Weiguang.

Among them, Lin Ruilin was vilified as a "human flesh recorder," and Feng Weiguang claimed to be a "White House spokesperson." The performance was not as ideal, but as analyzed by politicians, this was because the chief executive in the past entrusted non-persons. The government has been embarrassed in the battle of public opinion for a long time.

The government was in the midst of a turmoil in the revision of the regulations, and public opinion was unsuccessful, which dragged down the entire war. This may be one of the examples.

2. The chief consultant of the Central Policy Group helps the chief executive to understand the pulse of the people’s sentiments and check the policies

The news coordinator controls public opinion, and the chief adviser of the Central Policy Group takes the pulse of public sentiment.

The Central Policy Group was established as early as 1989 to track the pulse of government and public opinion. The chief adviser of the Central Policy Group is one of the Governor’s important think tanks. The most famous of these is Gu Rude, who passed away in Ireland in April this year and was known as the "Monk". .

It is said that Patten trusts and relies heavily on him, and he consults with him when he publishes the policy address, and he is an out-and-out strategist behind the scenes.

In 2002, Tung Chee-hwa reformed the cabinet to implement the accountability system and invited scholar Liu Zhaojia to serve as the chief adviser of the Central Policy Group. In addition to assisting in the preparation of the annual policy address, his more important task is to conduct regular scientific opinion surveys and establish social networks by contacting members of the public. , For the government to understand and analyze social conditions.

After Liang Zhenying came on stage, he replaced his "confidante" Shao Shanbo in charge; when he arrived at Lam Cheng, in the name of reorganization, he abolished the Central Policy Group, changed the current policy innovation and coordination office, and demolished the only structure for the government’s public sentiments. .

Recalling how Gu Rude "teaches the way" Lam Cheng's administration

According to politicians, the internal functions of the Chief Executive’s Office are divided into three major systems:

—Political administration system. The personnel include the director of the Chief Executive's Office in roles such as "General Manager", the permanent secretary who specifically follows up the implementation of major policies of each accountable official, and the senior special assistant of the Chief Executive's Office responsible for communicating with the Beijing Hong Kong and Macao Office. Special Assistant to the Chief Executive's Office for Party Communication in Parliament;

-The public relations and public opinion system, which is composed of the news coordinator, the head of the news department, the chief press secretary (with AO), and the news director of the chief executive's office (the information director of the press department IO);

—Policy public opinion research system, with the central policy team as the backbone.

The three systems are intertwined, forming a dense and finely divided political game team to help the chief executive "fight the war."

However, after Carrie Lam took the stage, he almost completely demolished the chief executive’s staff system and removed three important positions in one fell swoop. Chen Jianping, the senior special assistant in charge of "receiving the north wind", was "hanged" in 2008, and the news coordinator has remained vacant. The Central Policy Team was changed to the Innovation Office, but only 2 to 30 young people (referred to as political boy scouts) were recruited to "study policy innovation."

Lam Cheng is very confident in his personal abilities and believes that he is excellent in all his 18 weapons. He is an expert in politics, policy, and public relations, and he does not need the assistance of professional staff. As a result, he has lost hands in public relations, governance and political games. Lacking the functions of the central policy team to grasp and reflect public opinion, the government seems to have lost its hearing and simply lost the opportunity to stop unpopular policies.

Some establishments bluntly said that if the central policy team is still there, or the amendment to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance can be stopped in time before 612 last year, the history of Hong Kong can be rewritten.

3. The chief military officer of the special political adviser

Carrie Lam said that he "is not a person who understands politics very well," so a special political adviser might be the best to help her.

When it comes to special political advisers, there is another mention of Patten.

Back then, the "last governor of Hong Kong" created a political battle room. In addition to Gu Rude in charge of the central strategy team, Han Xin was appointed as the information coordinator (that is, the news coordinator after the return), and two personal assistants, nicknamed "Da Xigui" Close think tanks Dai Yansen and Li Weilue.

Among them, "Small Turtle" Li Weylue left Hong Kong for development after his return. He has long been engaged in professional political advisory work. In 2010, he became the then British Prime Minister Cameron Downing Street Chief of Staff. He was the second most influential person in the British government at that time. Visible non-general.

Some politicians believe that Lam Cheng, who says he does not understand politics, needs a special political adviser like Lai Weiluo to assist in the political game, so as not to be dragged down by political shortcomings.

In fact, in the early days of the return of the Hong Kong government, there was also the post of special adviser to the chief executive. This was Ye Guohua in the Tung Chee-hwa era. He was responsible for the political ties between Taiwan and Hong Kong and offered advice to the Chief Executive until Tung fell.

Lam Cheng's losses in successive political battles are due to the long-term weakness of the current governance and accountability team. Although it is known as a political appointment, the secretary-general has become "permanent secret", just like a civil servant, who only understands administration at best. One person understands political games, and the struggle between the government and the democrats is often left and right, and the advance and retreat are unfounded.

Instead of trying hard to seek re-election, Lam Cheng should "land" and find a special political adviser to save himself and the government.

4. "Internal Security Advisor" to prevent political disasters

Finally, since the legislative amendment turmoil last year, the society has torn apart, and the police's every move is extremely sensitive. They are often accused of political motives or objectively political effects, adding to the risk of political crises.

For example, the recent arrest of Lin Zhuoting, a member of the Democratic Party’s Legislative Council on suspicion of riots, has caused a huge response in society. In addition, the time is close to the first anniversary of the "831 Incident," which has touched the nerves of many people.

There are opinions that the Chief Executive’s Office can set up an "internal security advisor" role to report to the Chief Executive on sensitive cases that are being handled, carefully assess and make precautions, or take anti-wind measures early to reduce the risk of political turmoil.

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Central Policy Group of the Special Administrative Region Government