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.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS