Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Beijing hasn't announced whether it would accept Tung's resignation, but it was widely believed that his departure was a carefully scripted event approved by the Chinese Communist Party leaders in advance.
Tung's announcement Thursday put an end to a political guessing game that dragged on for nearly two weeks.
The 67-year-old leader rejected widespread speculation that China was dumping him because of poor leadership. Tung insisted that he was leaving because fatigue was preventing him from keeping up with the long work hours.
Gao Siren (
Today in Beijing, Tung is expected to be named vice chairman on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference -- an elite advisory body to the Chinese legislature. The position is usually reserved for retired leaders.
His Hong Kong job would be temporarily filled by the No. 2 ranking official, Donald Tsang (
Analysts believe Tsang -- a popular career civil servant who has nearly 40 years of experience helping run the government -- will do a better job than his boss.
"He clearly is a more capable ruler than Tung," said James Sung,(
But unlike Tung, Tsang, who has good relations with some leading pro-democracy lawmakers, doesn't yet have Beijing's complete trust, Sung said.
He predicted that China will pressure Tsang to prove his loyalty and be harder on the pro-democracy forces.
China's "central government will likely follow up with more political measures to further clamp down on the political space in Hong Kong," Sung said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
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The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
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