Greater China
Apr 2, 2005: Times Asia
Beijing misstep over new Hong Kong head
By Janus Lam
HONG KONG – Despite the resignation of unpopular Tung Chee-hwa as the chief executive of Hong Kong, Beijing’s leaders are having difficulties in marshaling Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing camp. This is reflected by the reluctance of Beijing’s own supporters to accept Beijing’s choice of Donald Tsang, named a knight of the British Empire in 1997, to replace Tung in the top position. Tsang was Tung’s deputy and is acting as interim chief executive.
Tung was kicked upstairs in mid-March when Beijing "promoted" him to vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, important only as a political decoration without policymaking power. Tung’s departure – he claimed ill-health – had been expected, but it has plunged the leaderless Hong Kong politics into its own brand of chaos.
Beijing quickly nominated Tsang as a candidate for a "by-election"
to choose the next chief executive, but he has not yet found majority
support from the electorate. Indeed, several parties and political
celebrities have expressed their intentions to run.
A Hong Kong election committee of 800 political, business and labor
figures, most of whom are expected to have pro-Beijing sympathies, will
gather on July 10 to select the next chief executive. The new head will
serve for only two years, the balance of Tung’s five-year term.
On March 23, Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun admitted
that his party had held informal talks with the Democratic Alliance for
Betterment of Hong Kong, a "royalist" party in favor of Beijing, about
the feasibility of participation. And he did not rule out the
possibility that he himself might stand.
The Democratic Party will also single out a candidate in April,
chairman Lee Wing-tat said. Further, it is speculated that the chairman
of the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute, Paul Kwok Wah Yip, is
planning to toss his hat into the ring.
From a democratic perspective, a crowded election field often
signals the development of democratic politics. On the the other hand,
the central government in Beijing may consider crowded as chaotic,
unruly and not amenable to Beijing’s direction.
Ever since half million Hong Kong people paraded to protest against
a proposed anti-sedition bill and against the unpopular government on
July 1, 2003, Beijing has tightened its reins on the former British
colony. Pre-election provision is a case in point. Usually, pro-Beijing
or "red" politicians are encouraged and nominated as candidates. Less
promising and less-favored candidates are persuaded to drop out in
order to ensure the victory of the pro-Beijing candidate.
For instance, legislators of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance, a
minor reddish party, renounced their reappointment under Beijing’s
canvass in the Legislative Council election last year. Bowing out of
the legislature, the party merged into the Democratic Alliance for the
Betterment of Hong Kong, under pressure from Beijing.
Back to the upcoming by-election of chief executive. While the
democrats’ run for power is logical and comprehensible, the reddish
parties signing on comes as a big surprise. Some observers take it as a
sign that Tsang, said to be Beijing’s favorite candidate, does not
enjoy overwhelming popularity among the reddish constituency.
The opposition is even checking his background for traces of
impropriety. In October 1997, when presenting his first policy address,
Tung unveiled a scheme to build at least 85,000 housing apartments
every year, but the plan was challenged and doomed from the start. When
Tung was going to announce the scrapping of the scheme, then financial
secretary Tsang dissuaded Tung and suggested that any bad news would
further dismay the Hong Kong people beset by the Asian financial
crisis, according to a source speaking on condition of anonymity. It
was not until June of 2000 that Tung admitted to the press that the
scheme had been called off. Therefore, critics say, Tsang should take
the blame for cloaking the apartment scheme debacle – a move that had
been erroneously imputed to his boss Tung.
Leung Chun-ying of the Executive Council is among the skeptics
casting doubt on Tsang’s competence to lead Hong Kong. On March 24,
Leung said he anticipated that the new chief executive could strike an
agreement with the Chinese mainland on mutual recognition of
professional certificates under the program of Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), a win-win policy Beijing contrived in
order to twist the competition between Hong Kong and the mainland into
cooperation.
If agreement is reached and professional certificates issued in Hong
Kong are accepted in the mainland, then certificate holders will have
better access to the vast mainland job market. In general, certificate
holders are a crucial part of the middle class, an indispensable
cornerstone of the government’s performance and social stability.
Nevertheless, no breakthrough has been made so far on the agreement,
owing to major differences with the relevant mainland authorities since
CEPA went into effect 14 months ago.
Even Tung, with the massive support of the central government,
failed to accomplish the mission, not to mention Tsang, who has much
lesser association with Beijing.
The by-election, the first of its kind since the territory returned
to China’s embrace in 1997, has stirred wild suspicions. Some say that
Tung’s resignation also surprised Beijing, and Chinese leaders were not
prepared for the possible fallout – a crowded electoral field.
Others say that Tung is a protege of the "shadow regent", China’s
former president and party chief Jiang Zemin, who retired from the post
of commander in chief of the armed forces. They suggest that Tung’s
leaving is intended to baffle the reform-leaning administration of
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
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