The Civil Service College today held a briefing session on "International Landscape & China's Foreign Relations in 2023", attended by Chief Executive John Lee and around 450 senior officials.

The briefing was jointly presented with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (OCMFA) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and delivered by OCMFA Commissioner Liu Guangyuan.

In his opening remarks, Mr Lee spoke on the complex international political and economic environment, interference by certain external forces in the affairs of the country and Hong Kong as well as various unjustified smears and suppressions.

Against this background, he said Hong Kong has an essential role in safeguarding national security, sovereignty and development interests as well as steadfastly defending the successful implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in the city.

Hong Kong as a special administrative region of the country has to leverage its distinctive advantages of the strong support of the motherland and close connection with the world under "one country, two systems", fully grasp the evolving international landscapes and act in concert with the nation's foreign affairs policy to tell the good stories of China and Hong Kong, Mr Lee added.

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung supplemented that the civil service is an integral part of the Hong Kong SAR governance system and civil servants should accurately understand the national development strategies, fully and faithfully implement the "one country, two systems" principle and support the full implementation of "patriots administering Hong Kong".

Mrs Yeung added that civil servants should formulate more policies that are people-oriented and in support of national development, strengthen Hong Kong's connection with the rest of the world and enable the city to play a greater role in the nation’s overall development.

Since the end of 2021, with OCMFA's support and assistance, the Civil Service College has organised 12 talks under the series on the country's foreign affairs.

The college will continue to run a series of talks on the country's foreign affairs this year on topics such as the Belt & Road Initiative and China-US relations.