China Power | Politics | East Asia

Hong Kong’s Deadly 2025 Fire: Accountability on Lee’s Terms

A ministerial resignation, official apologies, and promises of reform leave a fundamental question unanswered: What power do Hong Kong citizens have to demand accountability beyond what their government is willing to offer?

Flame engulf the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po, Hong Kong, Nov. 26, 2025.

When Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee announced the resignation of Housing Secretary Winnie Ho over the Wang Fuk Court fire, a bereaved family member questioned why only one minister had been made to bear political responsibility. Yip Ka-kui, who lost his wife in the disaster, described the government’s approach as accountability calculated with nanometer precision. “All the secretaries for the departments named should step down,” he said.

When there is credit to claim, Yip observed, ministers take their share. When things go wrong, the responsibility falls on those working beneath them.

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When Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee announced the resignation of Housing Secretary Winnie Ho over the Wang Fuk Court fire, a bereaved family member questioned why only one minister had been made to bear political responsibility. Yip Ka-kui, who lost his wife in the disaster, described the government’s approach as accountability calculated with nanometer precision. “All the secretaries for the departments named should step down,” he said.

When there is credit to claim, Yip observed, ministers take their share. When things go wrong, the responsibility falls on those working beneath them.

His criticism exposed a fundamental problem with Hong Kong’s response to the fire that killed 168 people in November 2025. Eleven months after the tragedy, the government has offered apologies, a ministerial resignation, investigations into dozens of civil servants, and extensive proposals for bureaucratic reform. Yet the authority to determine who should be held politically responsible, and what consequences........

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