Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Tung told members of his Cabinet and other key officials on Monday that he had decided to resign and had discussed his departure with China's leaders, the South China Morning Post reported, citing one of the Cabinet members.
"He said he is resigning because he is tired and his health is not good," the paper quoted the Cabinet minister as saying, adding that Tung had not yet formally tendered his resignation.
Tung, who has so far made no official comment on his early resignation reported by Hong Kong and international media last week, said the time was right to step down because the economy was rebounding, the Post reported.
The embattled leader met senior aides in a steady stream of meetings throughout Monday, including his deputy Donald Tsang (
A Chinese-language newspaper, the Sing Pao Daily News, reported Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) will formally announce his acceptance of Tung's resignation on Saturday.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said Donald Tsang will take over Tung's duties as of Monday.
Opposition politicians, meanwhile, declared the delay in announcing Tung's resignation an embarrassment, saying it made Hong Kong a laughing stock.
"How can anyone take this seriously, it's just ridiculous," said lawmaker Emily Lau (
Lau said keeping Hong Kong in the dark over the future of its political leader was disrespectful.
It also undermined the autonomy granted Hong Kong by China when it took control of the city at the end of British colonial rule in 1997, she said.
"Beijing has definitely moved from the side of the stage to center stage," Lau said. "This is not good for our future autonomy."
In Beijing on Monday, State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan (
Tang, the most senior Chinese official yet to comment on Tung's reported resignation, said any successor would only complete the two years left in Tung's term and not the full five years of a chief executive's term.
The two-year arrangement is likely to spark concern among analysts and democrats who say it would suggest China intends tightening its control over the territory.
Tung's resignation had been mooted since July 2003 when more than 500,000 people marched in protest at an unpopular anti-subversion law proposed by China. The rally sparked a political crisis from which he never recovered.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
RSS