Think again, Beijing: Carrie Lam is the wrong person to lead Hong Kong out of the political storm
Tom Plate believes the central government should back John Tsang, the leader the people want, rather than the mediocre and unpopular Carrie Lam to be the SAR’s next chief executive
In pushing Carrie Lam over John Tsang, Beijing is playing a losing game. Illustration: Ingo Fast
Does the Chinese Communist Party possess the political wisdom and emotional range to handle the many difficult challenges that catch the world’s eye?
Since the 1997 handover, the special administrative region of Hong Kong has been in the limelight. On the whole, its new life under Beijing’s absolute sovereignty has not gone badly: People’s Liberation Army troops are not befouling the streets, as much of the Western media once all but predicted; the economy sails along, and this dandy gem remains one of the world’s most iconic metropolises ... up-and-coming Shanghai notwithstanding.
An election is coming at the end of this month that could put all this at serious risk. Indications are that the winner, and thus Hong Kong’s next leader, will be Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the former chief secretary, because the Xi Jinping (習近平) government prefers her, and because Beijing pulls enough weight within the city’s Election Committee – the elite group of electors that chooses the chief executive – to get what it wants.
What evidently it doesn’t want is former financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, or anyone capable of even semi-independent leadership. Like the former British colonial government, the Chinese like their Hong Kong leader tame and lame.
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Yet, this capable and likeable civil servant is running strongest in the public opinion polls (by as much as 14 percentage points by one estimate). But Tsang will not be the next chief. This anomaly arises becasue Hong Kong’s “election” method is not the basic one-person, one-vote deal; it’s “democracy” of a filtered sort.
Chief executive candidate John Tsang waves to the media as he leaves after attending an election briefing session in Mong Kok. Tsang is likeable and capable. Is it too late to switch Beijing’s fateful finger of favouritism to him? Photo: Felix Wong
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Hong Kong is not alone, by the way, in using a bizarre intermediary system that dilutes voters’ sentiment. Mathematically simple, one-person, one-vote systems are not everyone’s cup of tea.
