'Oaths This Week To Lead To Vows For All Govt Staff'

All government under secretaries and political assistants are to take oaths of allegiance on Wednesday morning as a primer for similar declarations to be made by the entire 180,000-strong civil service next month, sources told RTHK on Tuesday.

They say Chief Executive Carrie Lam is expected to personally administer the vows for the political appointees, where they would pledge allegiance to Hong Kong and swear to uphold the Basic Law.

Senior civil servants within the bureaucracy, including permanent secretaries and department heads, will reportedly follow suit on Friday.

The sources say the arrangement is designed for civil service leaders to set an example and show team spirit, before rank-and-file officers are required to make a similar declaration next month.

Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip had earlier warned that anyone refusing to sign could lose their jobs, but gave assurances that any breach of the oaths would not by itself necessarily constitute a criminal offence.

Civil servants who joined the administration since July 1st, after the national security law was implemented, have already had to make such declarations.

The government had originally planned to require more senior officials to take the oaths first, but subsequently decided that all civil servants should do so at essentially the same time.