Tang boasts formidable team in quest for top job
If the sheer clout of Henry Tang Ying-yen's supporters and campaign team is anything to go by, the outgoing chief secretary may have already won the first round of the battle to become the next chief executive.
Even though he has yet to officially announce his bid for the top job, he has assembled a campaign team bristling with leading Hongkongers. It includes Anthony Wu Ting-yuk, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Hospital Authority, retired Legislative Council secretary general Ricky Fung Choi-cheung and Yu Kwok-chun, chairman of Yue Hwa Chinese Products.
Other core supporters include David Li Kwok-po, finance sector lawmaker and chairman of Bank of East Asia; Chan Wing-kee, a member of the standing committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Chinese Manufacturers' Association president David Wong Yau-kar and commercial sector lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung.
Rafael Hui Si-yan, chief secretary from 2005 to 2007, is pulling the strings for Tang's campaign and mapping out campaign strategy. Hui was the chief strategist in Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's run for chief executive in 2005 and was appointed chief secretary after Tsang was elected.
Heidi Kwan Cheng Lai-man, Hui's press secretary from 2005 to 2007, will help with public relations.
A government official said Tang's supporters were chiefly mainstream, pro-status-quo figures within the establishment camp such as leaders of business organisations.
'For those people, Henry Tang is the man who will ensure continuity as he will not bring uncertainty and surprises,' the official said.
Tang, who joined the government as a minister in 2002, enjoys the backing of most civil servants because of his experience in the administration.
The 1,200-member Election Committee, which will select the next chief executive, comprises four sectors: industrial, commercial and financial; the professions; labour, social services and religious bodies; and Legco members, district councillors and Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress. Each has 300 committee members.
The industrial, commercial and financial sector is Tang's stronghold as most of the leaders of business groups are his supporters.
Those who support Tang's competitor, former Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying, come mainly from the professional sector.
Accountancy sector legislator Paul Chan Mo-po said Leung should run even without Beijing's endorsement. He says Leung is 'a man of courage and stamina with the ability to bring change to Hong Kong'.
Leung, a veteran surveyor, is seen to have the upper hand in sectors such as accountancy, architecture, surveying and planning. One tycoon who openly backs him is Ronnie Chan Chichung, chairman of the Hang Lung Group. Urban Renewal Authority chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen also supports Leung.
Cheung Chi-kong, executive director of the One Country, Two Systems Research Institute, is a key strategist for Leung.
