Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Tung planned to announce his resignation before flying to Beijing to take over a new post on an elite advisory group to the Chinese legislature, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday.
Tung avoided reporters waiting outside government headquarters as he went to work yesterday. He has so far refused to directly address the rumors that he would quit two years early. His silence has helped fuel the media frenzy over his future that began last week.
Earlier yesterday, high-ranking Chinese officials in Beijing heaped praise on him in an apparent send-off.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
Zhang Chunxian (
"He's humble. He works very diligently. He has goodwill toward people when he's thinking about problems. He's done everything he can for Hong Kong's development," Zhang told reporters.
Tung, 67, was a shipping magnate with little political experience when he took the job as Hong Kong's chief executive. In recent years, his public approval ratings have been dismal, largely because many think he's indecisive and too cozy with big business.
Hong Kong has never enjoyed full democracy. The British opposed it, and the Chinese have continued to block reforms that would give voters the power to directly elect the chief executive and the entire legislature.
Tung was elected by an 800-member committee dominated by people partial to Beijing. If he resigns, the No.2 ranking official, Donald Tsang (
Also yesterday, pro-democracy lawmakers called for an urgent debate on whether the legislature should demand an explanation of Tung's future. The call was rejected.
Opposition lawmaker and unionist Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) lashed out at the government's silence over the rumors.
"The government is once again turning Hong Kong into an international joke," Lee said.
"The rumor has dragged on for more than a week and the administration neither confirmed nor rejected it. The public is losing their confidence in the government," he said.
Tung's resignation rumors began last week when local media reported that he would be named a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference -- an elite advisory panel to the Chinese legislature. On Tuesday evening, the body nominated Tung to be a vice chairman -- a position usually given to retired leaders. The group is expected to approve the appointment on Saturday.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS