Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed No. 2 official, Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang (唐英年), yesterday stepped down from his post to pave the way for a widely expected bid to become the financial hub’s next chief executive.
Tang said he had tendered his resignation, which still requires approval from Beijing, and while he stopped short of confirming a formal run for the territory’s highest office, politicians and analysts are virtually certain he will do so.
“I know deep in my heart that this would be a great challenge for me,” Tang told reporters. “I need to consider how to respond to the wishes and aspirations of our people.”
Photo: Reuters
A former textile tycoon and known as a wine connoisseur, Tang is seen as the frontrunner for the top job, having been groomed by senior Chinese officials to take over the reins from bow tie-sporting Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權).
Tang, 59, is a wealthy “princeling” of Hong Kong’s elite.
His father, Tang Hsiang-chien (唐翔千), a textile industrialist from Shanghai, was branded a rightist during Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) Cultural Revolution, but was later rehabilitated. He fostered close ties to former president and fellow Shanghainese Jiang Zemin (江澤民).
Reportedly singled out by Jiang at an early age, Henry Tang was fast-tracked into the higher echelons of government in 2002 to gain valuable governance experience.
After stints as commerce and financial secretary, Tang was promoted to chief secretary in 2007, leading the civil service.
The people of Hong Kong have no direct say in their next leader, who will be chosen in March by a 1,200-member election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists.
Complicating the political algebra this time round is a likely challenge from a second Beijing loyalist and prominent government adviser, Leung Chun-ying (梁振英), who is seen by some as a tougher and potentially more visionary leader than Tang.
“China favors Tang because he can handle the civil service, but I think when the secret ballot comes I’m not sure who’s going to win,” said Allen Lee (李鵬飛), a political pundit and former member of China’s National People’s Congress.
Dismissed by critics as a mediocre administrator, analysts say Tang still represents Beijing’s best option for now.
“A great leader may not necessarily fit the conditions for chief executive. They want loyalty and trust. These are the most important things in the eyes of Beijing’s leaders,” said James Sung (宋立功), a political analyst at the City University of Hong Kong.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS