Peter Lai Hing-ling, JP () is a former Hong Kong administrator. From 1995 to 1997, he was

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

's first ethnic Chinese

Secretary for Security The Secretary for Security is the member of the Government of Hong Kong in charge of the Security Bureau, which is responsible for public safety, security, and immigration matters. The post was created in 1973 and since the Principal Offic ...

under colonial rule. He continued to hold the post after the city's handover to China until his resignation in 1998, ending his 25-year career as a civil servant.

Career

While going to school at Queen's College, he had an affinity for basketball and football, and founded the student newspaper, ''The Courier'', in 1969. Lai graduated from the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

with a first-class honours degree in history (majoring in Modern Chinese History). In 1973, he joined the Administrative Service, and held various political and managerial posts, including in the New Territories Administration, the

Urban Services Department Urban Services Department () was a government department in Hong Kong. It carried out the policies and managed the facilities of the former Urban Council. After being abolished with the Urban Council in 1999, its functions were inherited by the ...

, the

Immigration Department The Immigration Department of the Government of Hong Kong is responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty of the territory in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained l ...

, the Lands and Works Branch, the Civil Service Branch and the Constitutional Affairs Branch. In the mid-1980s he took part in the

negotiations Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...

between Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong, which led to the

Sino-British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance of the territory after ...

on the Question of Hong Kong, as well as in negotiations in 1993 about Hong Kong's new political system. He also contributed to the drafting of the Basic Law. In February 1995 Lai was appointed the first ethnic Chinese

of the

Hong Kong Government The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the Executive (government), executive authorities of Hong Kong Special administrative regions of China, ...

. He resigned on 1 August 1998 to spend more time with his family in Australia. Lai said Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa had asked him to stay and the timing of his resignation was "something which is impossible to explain". It was speculated that he had to resign since he was also responsible for

British intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and do ...

work in Hong Kong, and also because of his strong stance in refusing to share the information held by

Hong Kong Police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...

with the Beijing government, though these claims have been dismissed by the Hong Kong government. Lai set off for

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in October 1998 to start a career in research. He was an Associate with the Asia Research Centre at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

, Australia, specialising in Hong Kong's politics and constitutional developments from 1998 to 2005. Lai returned to Hong Kong and is now Adviser with the

Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre The Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre was a privately funded public policy think tank in Hong Kong. The organisation stated that its aim was "to promote the understanding of the 'one country, two systems' arrangements in Hong Kong and other ...

. and an honorary Professor of the Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University of Hong Kong.

References

External links

Mr. Lai's statement of resignation
1951 births Living people Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Government officials of Hong Kong Hong Kong civil servants Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong {{law-enforcement-bio-stub