John Tsang formally declares bid to lead Hong Kong and vows to ‘restore hope in time of great uncertainty’
Former finance chief launches leadership bid with message of hope and unity but is coy on Beijing’s intentions and the issue of restarting political reform
Watch: John Tsang declares bid to lead Hong Kong
Accompanied by his wife, his son and dozens of supporters, Tsang, 65, announced his intention to seek the top job three days after Beijing accepted his resignation, tendered a month ago.
In a 20-minute speech, he struck a friendly note, talking of his early life in the United States, his three decades of public service and his vision for Hong Kong.
“Looking back on my life, my greatest realisation is that confrontation, pessimism and prejudice are not inevitable,” he said. “What we need is to rebuild trust, re-establish unity and rekindle hope.”
Adopting the words “trust, unity and hope” as his campaign slogan, he vowed to change the minds of many Hongkongers considering emigration in recent years because of pessimism about the city’s future. A divided society needed respite after the political turmoil of the past few years, he said, “but that doesn’t mean doing nothing”.
Tsang also stressed that social and economic policies needed to be reassessed in view of the changing global situation and rise of protectionism.
“Instead of acting against market forces, our mission is to remedy its pitfalls and improve its implementation, helping those who have fallen through the safety net, and ensure a decent livelihood,” he said.
When asked whether he would relaunch the political reform process after the current administration failed to push it through in 2015, he was less forthcoming. “We have to determine whether the political situation has indeed changed from 2014,” he said. “If it hasn’t changed, we’re just banging our heads against the wall. That would not serve any purpose.”
However, he pledged to conduct proper dialogue with all stakeholders and see if a compromise could be reached.
In his speech, Tsang also spoke of his patriotism several times, recalling his teenage days when he would get into fights in New York whenever someone insulted the Chinese.
He would not speculate on why Beijing took more than a month to accept his resignation, compared with only four days for his arch-rival Lam. He also would not clarify whether Beijing’s liaison office in the city had asked him to stay out of the race, only saying there were people who encouraged him to run and “there were others who said otherwise”.
Lam, who attended the liaison office’s spring cocktail reception as a guest of honour on Thursday night,said she welcomed Tsang’s participation but declined to comment on his past performance. Expressing hope for a fair contest, Lam asked Election Committee members to compare the candidates’ platforms, adding that she expected they would “exercise independent thinking” in voting.
Chinese University political scientist Ma Ngok said Tsang should be able to woo moderates in the pan-democratic camp.
Kenneth Leung, coordinator of the 326 pan-democrats on the Election Committee, said Tsang’s speech did have some appeal and he would encourage all candidates, including Tsang, to meet with them and discuss their platforms. But the camp had not committed to any candidate.
Additional reporting by Tony Cheung