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March 10, 2005
Not Happy and Showing It
James Tien, Liberal Party head, has found himself in quite the conundrum recently. He was left out of the loop in the events leading to CE Tung's resignation, widely considered to be a direct dressing down after Tien bolted from supporting Article 23. Meanwhile, fellow businessman and personal buddy FS Henry Tang looks unlikely to become the next CE, overshadowed by the overwhelming popularity and support of CSA Donald Tsang from the general public and the Beijing central government. Indeed, Tsang's appointment is so certain speculation has moved to whether Tsang will appoint Rafael Hui, Tsang's long-time colleague and former Secretary for Financial Services, to take over as CSA.
And so, with the writing on the wall, Tien retracted from his previous criticisms of Tsang and heaped praise on the future head of the government:
Liberal Party chairman James Tien, long-time advocate of FS Henry Tang serving as CE, yesterday reversed gears to support CSA Donald Tsang, describing the centre asking for him to serve as CE, and his plan to bring in Rafael Hui as CSA as “really smart” and a “great move.” He expects that the centre will take public opinion into considering who should be CE, and whoever wants to be CE should work hard at swaying public opinion.
He also declared that the Liberal Party will no longer be pro-government: “He [Tsang] is so smart, he can protect himself.”
When discussing with reporters about the “Tsang-Hui pairing,” Tien said “The centre's really smart to ask Secretary Tsang, to not allow one-man, one vote, and still choose the most popular [official] that everyone support.” He also lauded how Tsang was able to persuade the centre to accept Rafael Hui as CSA. He explains that the process may be repeated in the future, since the centre only wishes for someone with high public support: “The 800 Election Commissioners have a much easier job, not having to appoint someone with low public support.”
When reporters aksed whether Tien was concerned if anyone would take shots at Tsang to force him out, Tien laughed and replied “Donald's so smart, how can you shoot him? You're not even going to able to shoot Fat Hui (Rafael Hui).” He also says that the Liberal Party will no longer be a pro-government party: “He's so brilliant, he can protect himself. We'll just wait until he get things going, and we'll know to talk after him, not like before when we have to speak first.”
I don't know what's funnier: the candor in acknowledging the HKSAR's powerlessness in deciding its own fate, the humiliating prostration towards the inevitable head of government, or the obvious sarcastic bile in all those words (of which much has been unfortunately lost in translation). This is not a happy man.
Posted by Kelvin at March 10, 2005 3:54 PM
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