Chris Sun Yuk-han () is the current Secretary for Labour and Welfare in Hong Kong, appointed on 1 July 2022 as part of John Lee's administration.
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.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare
In July 2022, Sun attended a seminar to "learn and promote" the spirit of Xi Jinping's important speech.
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. Lee previously rejected the use of the term "emigration wave" when describing the change in population. The emigration wave has been attributed to the government's strict COVID-19 policies and the political situation in Hong Kong.
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 advertisement which "urgently" sought for "world-class talent" to come to Hong Kong, with those who were "accepting of strict governance" being given priority. 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."
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.
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."
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. At the same month, he was tested positive for COVID-19.
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.
Top Talent Pass Scheme
In February 2023, Sun revealed that the Top Talent Pass Scheme had approximately two thirds of all applicants come from mainland China. Most of the rest of the "overseas" applicants still hold a mainland Chinese passport; sources estimated that up to 95% of all applicants have a mainland Chinese passport. The program was announced in October 2022, with a "global drive". In April 2023, Director of Immigration Au Ka-wang confirmed that 95% of all applicants were mainland Chinese, with only 3% of applicants coming from Canada, Australia, the United States, and Singapore. In April 2023, Sun also commented that the program was popular among "foreign talent." SCMP reported that 95% of approvals were also given to mainland Chinese. On 30 June 2023, local media also confirmed that 95% of approvals were given to mainland Chinese; when asked about if the program was unattractive to foreigners, Sun said mainland Chinese "knew better about Hong Kong."
After He Jiankui, a formerly jailed mainland Chinese citizen, was approved for the Top Talent Pass Scheme, Sun acknowledged that applicants do not need to declare their criminal history. Being asked by reporters about the case, Sun said that he would not make comments on individual cases, as this would "not [be] appropriate" for him. He Jiankui also said that despite being approved for the visa, he had no plans to move to Hong Kong. After the incident, the government said that future applicants must declare their past criminal records.
After multiple posts on mainland Chinese online platforms discussed using the visa to give birth to children in Hong Kong, which would give benefits such as right of abode and permanent residency to the children, government authorities warned that mainland Chinese women should not misuse the visa to give birth in Hong Kong.
In July 2023, Sun announced that the government would consider allowing graduates from mainland Chinese universities which were not ranked in the top 100 to apply for the program.