The images on social media this week showed Chinese fire engines parked at the border, their lights flashing as they waited to be dispatched toward the inferno that was raging eight miles away in northern Hong Kong.
The trucks never entered the city.
On Chinese social media, people questioned why Hong Kong did not take the firefighting help even as its own fire trucks struggled to extinguish the blaze that burned for more than a day and eventually resulted in at least 128 deaths. The moment underscored the delicate political challenge for the city’s Beijing-backed chief executive, John Lee.
Mr. Lee needs to demonstrate that his government, under tighter control by Beijing after a sweeping political overhaul, can manage a crisis of this magnitude on its own. If mainland emergency crews had crossed into Hong Kong, it risked being seen as undermining the city’s promise of running its own affairs.
“People should be sensitive to the image that may arise that the Hong Kong people are unable to deal with matters within Hong Kong,” said Ronny Tong, a senior adviser to Mr. Lee.
Hong Kong said on Thursday that it had not asked for firefighting assistance from the mainland. Mr. Lee said that his government was gradually getting the fire under control and thanked China’s top leader and his boss, Xi Jinping, for his concern.
The system that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong after antigovernment protests of 2019, with a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent, has altered the face of the city’s crisis response. Opposition politicians are in jail, the media operates under new restraints, street demonstrations are a thing of the past and many civic groups have been forced to close. The question is whether the remade political order can deliver in a crisis, rather than merely muzzle criticism of how it is handled.
His government has a gargantuan task ahead. The death toll on Friday rose sharply above 100 after firefighters were finally able to enter the remains of the seven charred buildings at the Wang Fuk Court complex. Hundreds of shocked and tired residents have piled into shelters. Families are still looking for some 200 missing loved ones. Bodies need to be identified. Around $38 million of government funds have been allocated for victims and the government began disbursing around $1,300 in subsidies for affected families.
Even though China’s crackdown wiped out many independent activist groups, a remarkable wave of volunteerism has risen up to help those in need after the blaze.
Volunteers, including students and small business owners, have distributed food, water and warm clothing, transforming local shops into donation centers and forming human chains to move supplies efficiently. Online chat groups and live trackers have helped coordinate efforts. Social workers and therapists have reached out to attend to those in need.
The authorities are apparently wary of independent organizing even in crisis. On Saturday, security officials could be seen patrolling the area near the apartment complex, and the South China Morning Post reported that the city’s national security police have ramped up surveillance “against potential seditious and secessionist activities in response to residents mobilizing to help victims of the fire.”
Hundreds of residents who lost their homes will be placed into hostels and hotels temporarily. But longer-term resettlement is likely one of the tougher tasks: Hong Kong’s housing market is among the world’s most expensive, and affordable units are in chronically short supply.
For displaced residents like Poon Kai Tak, 63, and his wife, Cynthia Lau, 68, housing is the top concern. They were told they might get to stay at a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, which Ms. Lau said they planned to accept, but she still hoped to stay in the Tai Po area because her husband gets dialysis treatment three times a week at a hospital there. “The government should prioritize the elderly and residents who are in need,” she said. “Many of us need to be in the area for medical checkups.”
The government will also need to restore confidence in the city’s construction industry, and in its supervision of it. The police will begin a multiweek investigation inside the buildings, reviewing CCTV footage and trying to piece together what happened. Eight more people were arrested on Friday in a separate investigation by the anti-corruption bureau, on top of an earlier three arrested by the police for gross negligence and manslaughter in connection to a contractor that was conducting renovations on the buildings.
As Mr. Lee begins the hard work of coordinating different government agencies in this aftermath, he will also be expected to use the moment to showcase both the softer side of the government and the “superiority of Hong Kong’s new political order,” said Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, a Beijing-backed research group.
As a consoler in chief, Mr. Lee, who spent most of his career in security services and led the crackdown on the protests, is relatively untested. On Wednesday night, he visited people who were being treated at a hospital and inspected a shelter. At news briefings, Mr. Lee has focused on detailing the measures taken by the government. On Saturday, he led government officials in observing three minutes of silence for victims of the fire. It was not immediately clear if he had met with families whose loved ones had perished.
For the government, questions about how such an inferno occurred cast a heavy shadow over the city’s earlier hopes of getting more people to vote in legislative elections on Dec. 7. The poll has largely been met with public indifference since Beijing imposed an overhaul that allowed only people deemed “patriots” to run for seats.
Campaigning efforts were put on hold this week, but it was not clear yet whether Mr. Lee would postpone the election.
Public anger is growing as signs of safety lapses have started to emerge. After survivors complained that there was no warning of the fire, officials confirmed that none of the alarms had gone off in any of the eight buildings in the housing estate. People questioned how the building contractor was allowed to cover windows in highly flammable foam and wrap the high rise apartments in netting that appeared to catch fire easily.
Mr. Lee will be scrutinized by Beijing for his government’s investigations into wrongdoing and whether some officials will have to shoulder responsibility, said Sonny Lo, a political analyst in Hong Kong.
“When we observe mainland practices of dealing with crises, usually individual officials are held accountable,” said Mr. Lo, who is an expert on the relationship between Hong Kong and China. “So the question is whether the mainland practice will be observed here.”
Each year in December, Hong Kong’s chief executive travels to Beijing to present a report to the central government. The expectation was no different this year, only Mr. Lee will be expected to have something substantial to report on the crisis, Mr. Lo said.
Beijing will also expect Mr. Lee to take on more support from the central government as part of a longstanding practice by the Chinese government during moments of crisis, experts said.
But such help could be politically fraught for Mr. Lee. During one news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Lee if the presence of senior Chinese officials in the city — who had arrived to offer support — reflected shortcomings in the work of his government.
Mr. Lee avoided the implication and instead emphasized that it was a gesture of Mr. Xi’s “great concern” — a reminder of whom his performance in this crisis ultimately matters most to.
Anjali Tsui contributed reporting from Hong Kong and Li You contributed research from Shanghai.
Alexandra Stevenson is the Shanghai bureau chief for The Times, reporting on China’s economy and society.
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