Why Nostradamus wasn't born in modern Hong Kong
An interesting tale has come to our attention that we feel obliged to recount, since it's about that red hot news story - 'the race', as some newspapers like to call it, to become chief executive. Or, rather, it's the right to have your nomination rubber-stamped by the 1,200 members of the so-called election committee who have been told by our national government which stamp to use. This is what passes for the chief executives election here.
Henry Tang Ying-yen and Leung Chun-ying are the current contenders for rubber-stamping. A senior academic tells us that he recalls attending a meeting at a local university in 1992 where an at that time relatively unknown C.Y. Leung was present.
'One of those slightly mysterious figures said to be 'close to Beijing' told me - 'that guy will be the second or third chief executive',' he said.
Our academic friend says he remembers the occasion vividly, since it appeared to indicate that five years before the handover Beijing was planning well ahead.
But our friend goes on to observe that it all makes perfect sense because 'Henry Tang's main [claim to] fame is for being intellectually challenged when faced with more than a glass of red wine, and China can hardly afford a third failure in the post'. With Tang seen as the big- business candidate, our friend surmises that Beijing may be anxious to distance itself from those guys. Which means that Tang is not so much a serious contender in this pantomime, more a stalking horse.