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Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Endorses Donald Tsang
2005-05-29
HONG KONG - A pro-China lawmaker once critical of former colonial administrator Donald Tsang said Sunday she now backs him for Hong Kong's top job - a sign that Beijing's loyalists are closing ranks behind the territory's former No. 2 leader. But lawmaker Choy So-yuk said she hopes Tsang will give up his British knighthood, which was bestowed for his service in Hong Kong's colonial administration, Cable TV reported.``His experience as a civil servant, ability to balance different interests, his political wisdom and so on makes me think he's the most suitable of the three candidates,'' Choy told reporters. Widely believed to be China's choice for the job, Tsang is the front-runner in the July 10 election, but Beijing's preference for Tsang is surprising because of his service during Hong Kong's British rule. Analysts say Beijing now wants proven bureaucrats at the helm instead of businessmen loyal to China such as Tung Chee-hwa, who quit in March citing poor health. Nonetheless, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing camp is believed to be skeptical of Tsang's loyalties. In a radio address last month, Choy accused China of forgetting history by favoring Tsang, whom she said some Beijing loyalists saw as ``disrespectful of the patriotic values they cherished.'' Hong Kong's next leader will be picked on July 10 by an 800-member committee that tends to side with China. Separately, a popular predecessor of Tsang in the colony's No. 2 job, Anson Chan, has also endorsed him, newspapers reported Sunday. Under a deal regarding its hand-over to China in 1997, Hong Kong has some Western-style civil liberties not granted in the mainland. But some worry that China is clamping down on those freedoms. On Sunday, several hundred people marched through Hong Kong to denounce China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in June 1989 - a move that stunned locals in this then-British colony years away from returning to Chinese rule. One protest sign read ``seek accountability for the massacre.'' Some demonstrators brought a black coffin that said ``the stench of a butcher regime lasts 10,000 years.'' China branded the 1989 protests a counterrevolutionary riot and has stood by its decision to clear Beijing's Tiananmen Square by force. The military crackdown killed at least hundreds of people.
Tsang launches Hong Kong leadership bid (2005-06-01)China approves resignation of HK's Tsang (2005-06-01)Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Endorses Donald Tsang (2005-05-29)HK's Tsang to announce bid for top job next week (2005-05-15)HK's Tsang fears July poll could be derailed (2005-04-03)
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