Former Hong Kong trade office director runs in UK local elections for right-wing Reform party

A former Hong Kong trade office director is running in the UK local elections as a candidate for the right-wing Reform UK party after emigrating to the country two years ago.

The opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Bangkok is attended by ETO director Lee Sheung-yuen (first from left) and Chief Executive Carrie Lam (fourth from left) on February 28, 2019. Photo: GovHK.

Lee Sheung-yuen, who worked as a Hong Kong civil servant for 24 years, is contesting a seat on Ealing Council in London.

According to a website introducing all candidates in the UK local elections on May 7, Lee is one of 11 candidates running in the Southall Broadway ward of Ealing Council.

Lee left the Hong Kong government in November 2023 after serving as director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (ETO) in Jakarta and Bangkok.

Lee Sheung -yuen. Photo: LinkedIn.

He describes himself on LinkedIn as “a former de facto diplomat” and “a policy strategist.”

Lee, who joined the Hong Kong government in 1999, worked as an administrative assistant to the late commerce minister Gregory So before serving as assistant commissioner for tourism from 2017 to 2019.

He moved to the UK in January 2024. He is currently living in London, working as a piano instructor in the UK and doing voluntary work, according to his LinkedIn page.

Founded in 2018, Reform UK advocates a hardline immigration policy, proposing mass deportations, disqualifying immigrants from obtaining permanent residency and increasing the waiting time to apply for British citizenship.

According to Ming Pao and the South China Morning Post, Lee declined interview requests, citing his current focus on the local elections.

The town hall of Ealing, London. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Lee is running in the UK local elections alongside some other candidates from Hong Kong.

Among them is Andy Ng, a former Hong Kong district councillor for the now-defunct Democratic Party.

Ng, now a Liberal Democrat politician, is seeking re-election as a local councillor in Wokingham, England.

In October 2020, months after the China-imposed national security law came into effect, the Hong Kong government required newly appointed civil servants to declare their allegiance to the city.

The requirement was extended to all civil servants in early 2021.

As of June 2022, the government said around 180,000 serving civil servants had pledged allegiance, while 129 had been sacked or quit after failing to take the oath.