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Executive Councillor Henry Tang Ying-yen yesterday announced he was pulling out of May's Legislative Council polls.

 The Liberal Party member said he wanted to concentrate on improving industrial development in his new role with the Commission on Innovation and Technology. He denied he feared electoral defeat.

 Hui Cheung-ching has recently emerged as a strong contender in the functional constituency Mr Tang was planning to contest.

 Mr Tang, a textile magnate and chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, said industrial development was crucial in the next two years in the wake of the financial turmoil. 'It is the prime time to boost industries with the Government's dedication to high technology and new initiatives,' he said.

 Mr Tang, 45, has been a legislator since 1991. He beat independent Kwan Lim-ho, 24,997 votes to 15,539, in the 1995 polls.

 He is one of three provisional legislators on Mr Tung's Exco and was recently named to the Commission on Innovation and Technology, which is advising on the way forward for the ailing manufacturing sector.

 Mr Tang said Mr Tung supported his decision. 'I can communicate with legislators even when I am no longer one of them. It is not the dual membership that counts,' he said.

 Mr Hui, his would-be opponent in the import and export functional constituency, said he was surprised by Mr Tang's decision.

 Members of the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' and Exporters' Association, of which Mr Hui is vice-chairman, comprise about half the estimated 1,180 constituents.

 Mr Tang said he was confident he would have won. But he said he would not have been able to devote enough time to legislative work if he were to grasp the 'golden chance' to rejuvenate industrial development.

 Legco, he said, had increasingly become a forum for political posturing. 'I'd like to do something more concrete. I might not be able to achieve any immediate results in the next year or so. But if we do nothing, the share of manufacturing in the economy will drop from seven per cent to just one per cent,' said Mr Tang.



Exco's Tang drops out of Legco race