After the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1984 which determined that Hong Kong's sovereignty to People's Republic of China in 1997, Li was appointed to the Independent Monitoring Team on the Assessment Office to monitor the acceptability of the Sino-British Draft Agreement [REF].
In the 1996 First Hong Kong Chief Executive election, Li campaigned against Yang Ti-liang, who succeeded Denys Robert as Chief Justice; Peter Woo, tycoon and son-in-law of Y. K. Pao, and the eventual winner Tung Chee-hwa [REF].