The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government) is the executive authorities of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. It was established on 1 July 1997, following the

handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

. The

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and the principal officials are appointed by the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

in accordance with the outcome of local processes. The Government Secretariat is headed by the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, who is the most senior principal official of the Government. The Chief Secretary and the other

secretaries A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, Personal assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project manageme ...

jointly oversee the administration of Hong Kong, give advice to the Chief Executive as members of the Executive Council, and are accountable for their actions and policies to the Chief Executive and the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

. Under the "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

" constitutional principle, the Government is, in law, exclusively in charge of Hong Kong's internal affairs and specified external relations. The

Government of the People's Republic of China The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

(PRC), from which the Hong Kong government is financially independent, is responsible for Hong Kong SAR's

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

, while decisions made by the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...

can, in certain circumstances, override territorial judicial processes. The Hong Kong SAR government replaced the former British Hong Kong Government (1842–1997) in 1997. Despite gradually evolving, the general governmental structure was inherited from

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

. On February 28, 2024, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan, announced the Special Administrative Region’s (SAR) government budget for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025 (“2024–25 Budget”). Under the 2024-25 budget, total government expenditure is set to rise by 6.7 percent to HK$776.9 billion (US$99.23 billion).

Head of government

The Chief Executive is the head of the Region and

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

of Hong Kong. The

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

designates a system of governance led by a Chief Executive and an Executive Council, under the principles of

separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...

, with a two-tiered system of semi-representative government and an independent judiciary. The Chief Executive is elected by an

Election Committee The Election Committee is the electoral college in Hong Kong that selects the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, elects 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states ...

, a 1500-member

electoral college An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

consisting of individuals and bodies (i.e. special interest groups) elected within 40 functional constituencies defined in the Basic Law. The winner is then appointed to the position by the

Premier of the People's Republic of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...

. 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. Then Chief Executive,

Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...

, began exercise of her unfettered residual powers of law-making by decree on 4 October 2019, under the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, Chapter 241 of the Laws of Hong Kong, bypassing the legislature. the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of Governor of ...

officially replaced the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

as the head of the government for Hong Kong following the

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...

. The Chief Executive is assisted by the

Chief Secretary for Administration The chief secretary for administration is the second-highest government official in Hong Kong, right after the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. When the chief executive is on leave, the chief secretary for administration will act on their behalf ...

and the

Financial Secretary Financial secretary is an administrative and executive government position within the governance of a state, corporation, private or public organization, small group or other body with financial assets. A financial secretary oversees policy con ...

, and other secretaries who heads policy bureaus. The secretaries for each government affairs are appointed by the

State Council of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

on the nomination of the Chief Executive. The

Secretary for Justice The secretary for justice () is the head of the Hong Kong Department of Justice, the chief legal advisor to the chief executive of Hong Kong and the government, and the chief law enforcement officer of the Government of Hong Kong. Before th ...

(SJ) is responsible for legal matters of the government and prosecution for criminal cases in the territory. The Independent Commission Against Corruption and Audit Commission report directly to the Chief Executive. The current Chief Executive is John Lee.

Executive

Executive Council

The Executive Council decides on matters of policy, the introduction of bills to the

and the drafting of subordinate legislation. The Council consists of 21 principal officials and 16 non-official members. All members are appointed by the Chief Executive from among the senior officials of the executive authorities, members of the

, and other influential public personnels. They serve for a period no longer than the expiry of the Chief Executive's term of office.

Principal officials

In a system popularly called the

Principal Officials Accountability System In Hong Kong, the Principal Officials Accountability System ( zh, t=主要官員問責制, labels=no) was introduced by inaugural chief executive Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002. It is a system whereby all principal officials, including the Chie ...

introduced by then Chief Executive

Tung Chee Hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born May 29, 1937) 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 th ...

in July 2002, all principal officials, including the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice, heads of government bureaux and the Director of the

Chief Executive's Office Office of the Chief Executive (CEO) is one of the government agencies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It consists of the immediate staff to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and multiple levels of support staff reporting to t ...

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 civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. The system was portrayed as the key to solve previous administrative problems, notably the co-operation of high-ranking civil servants with the Chief Executive. Under the new system, there are 3 Secretaries of department and 13 Directors of Bureaux. 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. 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 on 17 October 2007. 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 the

's policy agenda in an executive-led government. As with the principal officials, these two new posts may be drawn from within or outside the civil service, and appointees may or may not have a political background.Michael Ng
"Attracting new political talent 'from all sectors'"
, The Standard, 27 July 2006 Eight new Under-secretaries were named on 20 May, and nine Political Assistant appointments were announced on 22 May 2008. By the administration's own admission, the announcements were poorly handled, and there was widespread criticism of several key aspects, namely the nationality and experience of appointees, the transparency of the recruitment process and the level of officials' salaries.Ambrose Leung,
Tsang's assistant may face Legco censure
, Pg A3, ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'', 17 June 2008

Chief Secretary for Administration

The Chief Secretary for Administration is responsible for assisting the Chief Executive in the supervision of policy bureaux and plays a key role in ensuring harmony in policy formulation and implementation. The current Secretary is Chan Kwok-ki.

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 fiscal policies are in accordance to the Public Finance Ordinance. The secretary has to estimate of revenue and expenditure before the

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

Paul Chan Mo-po Paul Chan Mo-po (; born 18 March 1955) is the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong and former Secretary for Development (Hong Kong), Secretary for Development of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He was a member of the Legislative Council ...

Secretary for Justice

The Secretary for Justice is responsible for prosecutions and legal matters and heads the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. The current Secretary for Justice is

Paul Lam Paul Lam Ting Kwok (; born 1968) is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel, currently serving as the 5th Secretary for Justice since July 2022. Education Lam was educated at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws (with Second Class ...

Policy bureaux and departments

The hierarchical structure of the government secretariat and government departments in Chief Executive John Lee's

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

since 1 July 2022 is as follows:

Office of the Chief Executive

The

Office of the Chief Executive Office of the Chief Executive (CEO) is one of the government agency, government agencies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It consists of the immediate staff to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and multiple levels of support s ...

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. The

Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide Decision-making, decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body ...

, Independent Commission Against Corruption, Audit Commission, Office of the Ombudsman and

Public Service Commission Public Service Commission may refer to: * Public utilities commission ** Alabama Public Service Commission ** Public Service Commission (Indiana) ** Public Service Commission of Utah ** Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ** Public Utilities Com ...

report to the

directly.

Chief Secretary for Administration's Office

The Human Resources Planning and Poverty Co-ordination Office,

Administration Wing Administration Wing () of the Office of the Chief Secretary for Administration is an executive agency in the Government of Hong Kong, reporting directly to the Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary. It is mainly responsible to oversee the effe ...

and

Legal Aid Department The Legal Aid Department (often abbreviated as LAD) is a department of the Government of Hong Kong. It provides legal aid in the form of legal representation by a solicitor or barrister in civil and criminal proceedings in the District Court ...

are under the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office.

Financial Secretary's Office

The Office of the Government Economist and the

Hong Kong Monetary Authority The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is the central bank, central banking institution of Hong Kong. It is a government authority founded on 1 April 1993 when the Office of the Exchange Fund and the Office of the Commissioner of Banking merge ...

are under the Financial Secretary's Office.

Department of Justice

The

is led by the

Secretary for Justice (Hong Kong) The secretary for justice () is the head of the Hong Kong Department of Justice, the chief legal advisor to the chief executive of Hong Kong and the government, and the chief law enforcement officer of the Government of Hong Kong. Before th ...

(

Legal Department The Legal Department, headed by the Attorney General, was the department responsible for the laws of Hong Kong until 1997, when Hong Kong ceased to be a British crown colony. The department was responsible for dealing with criminal cases an ...

and

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

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 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.

Policy Bureaux

The current fifteen policy bureaux is a result of the 2022 government reorganisation, which added, expanded, and re-titled several bureaux. Currently, nine bureaux reports to the

, and the other six reports to the

. The Chief Secretary for Administration is customarily considered to be the leader of the bureaux. *

Civil Service Bureau The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) is a policy bureau under the Government Secretariat of the Government of Hong Kong and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies on the management of the Hong Kong Civil Service. The Civi ...

Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau is a ministerial-level policy bureaux of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for the implementation of the Basic Law, including electoral matters and promotion of equal opportunities and ...

Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB) is one of the fifteen policy bureaux of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The bureau is responsible for the policy portfolios of culture, sports and tourism. The agency was established on 1 Jul ...

(newly established) *

Education Bureau The Education Bureau (EDB) is a policy bureau responsible for formulating and implementing education policies in Hong Kong. The bureau is headed by the Secretary for Education and oversees agencies including University Grants Committee ...

Environment and Ecology Bureau Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

(re-titled from the

Environment Bureau The Environment Bureau (ENB; ) is a defunct policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong in operation from 2007 to 2022. It was responsible for developing policies in environmental protection, energy, climate change, sustainable development, n ...

and takes over the Food and Health Bureau except health) * Health Bureau (takes over health policies from the defunct Food and Health Bureau) * Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (reorganised from the

Home Affairs Bureau The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau () is a policy bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The bureau has general responsibility over local administration, with a remit covering youth affairs, family planning, women's affairs, social development, f ...

) *

Labour and Welfare Bureau The Labour and Welfare Bureau () is a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for employment, labor-development, manpower, human resources management, poverty-reduction, and social welfare in Hong Kong. The bureau is managed ...

* Security Bureau *

Commerce and Economic Development Bureau The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau is a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for policy matters on Hong Kong's external commercial relations, inward investment promotion, intellectual property protection, indust ...

Development Bureau The Development Bureau (DEVB; ) is a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for urban planning and renewal, land administration, infrastructure development, building safety, landscape, greening & tree development, water suppl ...

Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) is a part of the 15 policy bureaux for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. They are responsible for developing and executing government policy on finance and treasury. The agen ...

Housing Bureau Housing Bureau (HB) is a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong. It is responsible for the housing portfolios. The agency was established on 1 July 2022. The current (since 1 July 2022) Secretary for Housing is Winnie Ho. This bureau wa ...

(split from the defunct

Transport and Housing Bureau The Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) was a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong between 2007 and 2022, responsible for a range of policies such as the internal and external transportation, including air transport, land transport, ...

) * Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (re-titled from the

Innovation and Technology Bureau Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau (ITIB) is a policy bureau of the Government of Hong Kong. It is responsible for policy matters on the development of innovation and technology and information technology which are the key drivers in ...

) *

Transport and Logistics Bureau Transport and Logistics Bureau () is a policy bureau for the Government of Hong Kong. It is responsible for the transport and logistics policy portfolios. The agency was established on 1 July 2022, when the housing portfolios of the former Transp ...

(split from the defunct Transport and Housing Bureau)

Departments and agencies

References

External links

GovHK
– One-stop portal of the HKSAR Government

Government official news

HKSAR Government Telephone Directory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Government Of Hong Kong Politics of Hong Kong