Chris Sun

Chris Sun Yuk-han (Chinese: 孫玉菡) is the current Secretary for Labour and Welfare in Hong Kong, appointed on 1 July 2022 as part of John Lee's administration.[1]

In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Sun. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Chris Sun and the Chinese-style name is Sun Yuk-han.
Chris Sun
孫玉菡
Secretary for Labour and Welfare
Assumed office
1 July 2022
Preceded byLaw Chi-kwong
Personal details
Born (1971-12-28) 28 December 1971
Shandong, China
CitizenshipHong Kong

Biography

According to his official government profile, Sun in 1994 joined the Administrative Service, and was appointed as the Deputy Secretary for Food and Health (Health) in 2011, the Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Financial Services) in 2017, and the Commissioner for Labour in 2020.[1][2]

Secretary for Labour and Welfare

In July 2022, Sun attended a seminar to "learn and promote" the spirit of Xi Jinping's important speech.[3]

On 21 October 2022, after Lee had said 140,000 people had left the workforce in the past 2 years, with about two-thirds of them highly skilled, Sun said it didn't necessarily mean they had moved overseas, but did not elaborate.[4] Lee previously rejected the use of the term "emigration wave" when describing the change in population.[5] The emigration wave has been attributed to the government's strict COVID-19 policies and the political situation in Hong Kong.[6]

Also on 21 October 2022, after Lee announced in his maiden policy address plans to try and attract worldwide talent to Hong Kong, Sun publicly criticized a Ming Pao newspaper cartoon that depicted a bulletin board advertising people to move to Hong Kong, stating that those who were "accepting of strict governance" would have priority.[6] Sun said the cartoon was "absurd and a serious deviation from the truth" and "Such self-righteous humour will only damage Hong Kong's image."[6]

On 24 October 2022, Sun said that there was no need to compare Hong Kong to Singapore for talent acquisition, and that Hong Kong's talent loss was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]

In November 2022, Sun said that he was confident that the government would be able to attract foreign talent under Lee's policy address, saying "From next year onwards until 2025, we should be able to attract at least every year 35,000 talents to fill the gap in the local market."[8]

In December 2022, Sun rejected calls from lawmakers who said that the government should set up a committee to come up with a population policy, with lawmaker Simon Lee saying that Sun was reacting passively to the problem of decreased birth rates and a shrinking workforce population in Hong Kong.[9] At the same month, he was tested positive for COVID-19.[10]

In January 2023, Sun said that government figures that show approximately 25% of people in Hong Kong being under the poverty line was "flawed" and did not give a full picture of the situation.[11]

In February 2023, Sun revealed that the Top Talent Pass Scheme had approximately 2/3rds of all applicants come from mainland China.[12]

References
  1. "Executive Council - Membership of Executive Council - Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun". www.ceo.gov.hk. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  2. "Senior appointments (with photos)". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  3. "Hong Kong sectors rush to hold 'mainland-style' seminars to study Xi Jinping's speech". South China Morning Post. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  4. "'Talent trawl won't disadvantage local workers' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  5. Chau, Candice (2022-10-23). "Hong Kong Policy Address: How much of John Lee's maiden speech was old wine in new bottles?". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  6. Leung, Hillary (2022-10-24). "Hong Kong's John Lee defends labour sec.'s criticism of political cartoonist mocking talent attraction scheme". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  7. Standard, The. "Sun shines light on different turfs in rivalry". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  8. "Importing carers won't harm local workers: minister - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  9. "Govt rejects call for committee on population policy - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  10. Kong, Dimsumdaily Hong (2022-12-10). "Secretary for Labour and Welfare tests positive for COVID-19". Dimsum Daily. Retrieved 2022-12-12.
  11. "Poverty line doesn't give the full picture: Chris Sun - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  12. "Hong Kong talent scheme receives 10,810 applications, half are top graduates". South China Morning Post. 2023-02-15. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
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