Executive Council member suggests two pan-democrats as possible Hong Kong chief executive candidates
Exco member Fanny Law names Ronny Tong and Dennis Kwok as two who have a chance because they are more positive towards Beijing
Executive Council member Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun yesterday named moderates Ronny Tong Ka-wah and Dennis Kwok as pan-democrats who could be allowed to run for chief executive in 2017, citing their willingness to engage with Beijing.
Law, who led Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's transitional office after the 2012 election, named the Civic Party pair as she attempted to dismiss the notion that no pan-democrat could run for the top job under Beijing's framework for the 2017 poll.
But Tong gave a cool response, saying Law's comments could put him under heavy pressure from fellow pan-democrats.
Law was speaking to DBC radio yesterday, a day after former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said opponents of the Communist Party would not be allowed to run when the city's voters chose their leader for the first time. Asked whether Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit and chairwoman Audrey Eu Yuet-mee would be blocked, Tung said "they know it better than others", implying they would not win majority approval from the 1,200-strong nominating committee that will pick two or three candidates in 2017.
But Law said whether a candidate could be nominated would depend on their words and deeds on the question of whether they intended to overthrow or resist the Communist Party.
"I'm sure only a handful of people would be barred," she said. "We can't say all pan-democrats would not be able to run.