Hong Kong's likely next leader said yesterday he wants to move toward full democracy gradually, echoing China's line on the matter and rejecting popular demands for quick democratic reform.
Donald Tsang (
``I think right now, to force a timetable [for democracy] is a very difficult,'' Tsang, Hong Kong's former No. 2 official, said in his first campaign news conference.
Hong Kongers have held large protests in recent years demanding popular elections, but China ruled out changes in the near term last year. Hong Kong's new leader will be picked by an 800-member committee loyal to China on July 10, and Tsang is the clear frontrunner.
Political analysts have also doubted Tsang's desire to fight for more democracy.
``He will be rather obedient to the central Chinese government,'' said James Sung (
Sung said Tsang's hands are also tied by Hong Kong's economic dependence on China, which has bestowed the territory favors such as a free-trade deal.
Critics say Tsang's campaign for the leadership post is a political farce because of his expected victory. The leader selection committee is dominated by Beijing's local allies.
Tsang's two opponents -- an opposition party leader and an ex-convict legislator -- are considered long shots.
But Tsang said he didn't think the election was a charade. He said his goal wasn't just to win the approval of the leader selection panel, but also ``the hearts and conviction of the people of Hong Kong.''
Several activists protested outside the hotel where Tsang spoke, denouncing the electoral system, chanting, ``small-circle elections are beneath pigs and dogs.''
Other than appealing to the 800 voters, Tsang promised to campaign among the masses and take calls from regular citizens on radio shows. He stressed his humble beginnings.
``I'm an ordinary man from an ordinary home,'' he said, adding that before he joining the government he had been a pharmaceuticals salesman.
Tsang's reluctance to paint himself as a full-fledged democracy advocate will likely bolster his credibility with Beijing loyalists in Hong Kong, who are believed to doubt the former colonial official's allegiance to China.
Tsang was knighted for his service during Hong Kong's British rule.
Asked about his views on China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters occupying Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989, Tsang noted China's economic progress and that it had also benefited Hong Kong.
``I think ... analyzing this event from this perspective is more rational,'' he said.
Tsang served as acting leader until last week, covering for Tung Chee-hwa (
Tsang was barred from political campaigning as an official, so he tendered his resignation last week. China formally approved his resignation earlier yesterday, freeing him to launch his election bid.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS