THEY'RE STANDING BY THEIR MAN -- SO HE SAYS: DONALD TSANG, HONG KONG, AND BEIJING

BEIJING'S MAN

IN

HONG KONG --

FOR NOW

Chinese President HU JINTAO (waving) &

Hong Kong Chief Executive

DONALD TSANG YAM-KUEN (bow tie)

November 2008

Hong Kong, like Beijing, is due to have a leadership change at the top later this year. First, one of the Beijing-favored candidates for the top post was accused of corruption (see here), and now the outgoing Chief Executive, Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen, has been tarred with the same brush of scandal. Some of the details of the alleged violations of propriety can be found here.

In Beijing for the annual session of the National People's Congress, Tsang announced (here) that he had the Chinese leadership's backing for filling out the rest of his term. That term has only a few more months to go. But tongues are wagging, and computer keyboards are clicking, with speculation that returning to China, even as a Special Autonomous Region (SAR), has had bad effects on Hong Kong. One article warns (here) that "the danger signs of corruption" are "blinking in Hong Kong."

More on Sir Donald Tsang here and here.