Political Appointments System

In Hong Kong, the Political Appointments System is a scheme introduced by then Chief Executive Donald Tsang in 2008 to reinforce the government's ministerial team by superseding the Principal Officials Accountability System and inserting two layers of politically appointed officials below the secretaries, who are political appointees. These appointees report only to the secretaries, but not the permanent secretaries, the highest-ranking civil servants.

Source: Wikipedia — Political Appointments System (CC BY-SA 4.0)