Nip pledges to put people first as HK civil service head

HONG KONG – Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, newly appointed secretary for the civil service, pledged Thursday to lead the Civil Service Bureau so as to move with the times in order to effectively help Hong Kong residents reeling from a pandemic and an economic downturn.

Nip, former secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, made the remarks on the sidelines of a Legislative Council meeting during his first press briefing since being appointed the head of the city's civil service on Wednesday.

The veteran government official said he would lead the team of more than 170,000 civil servants to be flexible in the implementation of government policies and to better serve the city in these tough times.

He emphasized that civil servants should remain neutral when it came to politics. It has been stipulated clearly in related rules and regulations that civil servants must fully support the chief executive and the government of the special administrative region, Nip said.

While discharging official duties, their personal beliefs must not affect the civil servants or leave an impression of a conflict of interest, he said.

Nip stressed that he will deal impartially through established procedures if any civil servant violates relevant principles or participates in unlawful activities and is found to be guilty.