Policeman’s Son Donald Tsang Replaces Tung. A policeman’s daughter responds to the headline.

awaiting a democratic Hong Kong

I just want to point out this is the daftest headline ever.

"Policeman’s Son Donald Tsang Replaces Tung as Hong Kong Leader,"

For some reason Donald Tsang’s father makes it into the headline that his son is going to be the interim chief executive. Why is that important? Not all policemen kid’s grow up to be Chief Executives. I for one will never be chosen. Nor will any of the kids who I grew up with either.

Even worse within the article is reads:

"Tsang, who grew up in Hong Kong’s Central police station where his
father was a policeman."

No he didn’t. I think he had a home and his father had a home too. Maybe it was in the government police quarters although i can’t say for sure because his dad was Chinese, so he wasn’t on some expat package that allowed one to automatically qualify to live in those under the British rule.

Here are some other headlines that could be used in light of being a policeman’s daughter.

"Policeman’s daughter gets her site banned in China for ten months."

"Policeman’s daughter replaces her light bulb."

"Policeman’s daughter, thinks Bloomberg editors need to think of headlines that make some sense."

No?

I think they sound better than this one at least.

March 11 (Bloomberg) — Donald Tsang, Hong Kong’s financial secretary
during the Asian currency crisis, will replace Tung Chee-hwa as interim
chief executive, putting him in prime position to be chosen by China to
hold the city’s top job.

Tsang, noted for his colorful bowties, is a 38-year civil service
veteran. The chief secretary for administration will be acting chief
executive for as long as six months or until a China- backed committee
picks a replacement, according to the Basic Law, the city’s
constitution.

Tsang has beaten Tung in popularity polls in the past year, boosting
chances that China will support him as the next chief executive. The
60-year-old is known internationally for his role in defending the Hong
Kong dollar’s peg to the U.S. currency in 1998 from attacks by hedge
funds he dubbed “crocodiles.”

“Tsang is certainly the most capable person among the possible
candidates that the central government will pick the next leader
from,” said Albert Cheng, a Hong Kong legislative councilor, former
radio show host and critic of the Tung administration. “He’s the one
with the highest level of integrity and is the most popular among Hong
Kong people.”

Tung, 67, yesterday resigned as chief executive citing ill- health.
Tsang held a brief press conference after Tung’s announcement, saying
he hoped people would respect the former leader’s decision.

“I will certainly feel a sense of loss,” Tsang said.

Popularity

Tsang’s popularity rests partly on his personal story of achievement from a modest background, Cheng said.

Tsang, who grew up in Hong Kong’s Central police station where his
father was a policeman, had only completed a secondary education when
he started in the civil service in 1967, after two years as a salesman
for U.S. drugs company Pfizer Inc.

Tsang, whose Chinese given names are Yam Kuen, completed a Master’s
degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1981. He
became the first local Financial Secretary in 1995, when he succeeded
Hamish Macleod and Christopher Patten was Hong Kong’s last governor.

Married with two children, Tsang comes from a family of achievers. His
sister Katherine was in January appointed chief executive of Standard
Chartered Plc’s China business. Younger brother, Yam-pui, retired in
2003 as Hong Kong’s police commissioner.

Leading Candidate

“He is seen as the leading candidate and people expect him to run,”
said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at City University of
Hong Kong. “There will be keen competition: Henry Tang the Financial
Secretary among others will likely run, but Tsang is the most popular
political figure now because people prefer civil servants to
businessmen in general.”

Speculative hedge funds were rebuffed when the government spent HK$118
billion ($15.1 billion) buying stocks and futures to defend the peg.
Tsang was appointed chief secretary, the city’s top civil servant, in
2001. The following year, his successor, Antony Leung, began efforts to
woo the funds to set up in Hong Kong.

Tsang had to put his financial skills aside in his current job, which
includes heading the government’s “Team Clean” — picking up rubbish
and imposing HK$1500 fines on litter louts. On March 8, two banners
were put up on Hong Kong’s budget hotel block, Chungking Mansions,
saying: “We welcome Tsang Yam-Kuen’s stepping down as Team Clean’s
captain.”

Devout Catholic

Tsang, a devout Catholic who was knighted by the British government
just before Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty in June 1997,
has also become acceptable to Beijing since the handover.

As head of a task force on constitutional development, Tsang has had to
defend Beijing’s position on restricting political reforms and has been
loyal to Tung to the last.

Hong Kong’s autonomy “has not been impaired in the slightest since
1997,” Tsang said last year after Beijing ruled out direct elections
for the city’s chief executive in 2007.

“It’s interesting that they may have settled on Tsang,” said Michael
DeGolyer, associate professor of international studies at Hong Kong
Baptist University. “Tsang from the beginning has been attacked as far
more pro-British than they were willing to accept.”

Tsang met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Macau in December, when the
Beijing official scolded Hong Kong’s Tung. Tung’s popularity rating
last month was 48.4, down from an average of 64.8 in the second half of
1997, according to a University of Hong Kong poll. Tsang’s popularity
rating in February was 60.9.

Two-Year Term?

Under Hong Kong’s basic law, the chief executive is elected to a
five-year term. Should Tsang instead be selected to serve out the
remaining two years of Tung’s term, “it would be clear that he is not
fully trusted in Beijing and is on probation,” said Eddie Wong, ABN
Amro Holding NV’s chief Asian strategist.

Tsang’s ability to handle the interests of Hong Kong’s business
community and political parties remains to be seen, even in a full
five-year term, Wong said.

Tsang has been in charge of the government’s plan to select a property
company to develop a prime waterfront site in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon
district into a cultural, residential and commercial center. The three
groups of bidders include Hong Kong’s largest property developers —
Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., Henderson Land Development Co. and Sun Hung
Kai Properties Ltd.

“His strength is that of an administrator rather than a real leader,”
said Enzio von Pfeil, who runs Commercial Economics Asia Ltd. in the
city. “I don’t think Beijing wants a leader, but someone who
understands how to make the machinery work.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Douglas Wong in Hong Kong at  dwong19@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bruce Grant in Hong Kong at  bruceg@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 10, 2005 11:01 EST