A FORMER top aide to Chinese Vice-Premier Mr Zhu Rongji is standing for election to the general committee of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, the territory's most influential business body. Mr Alex Ye Longfei is among 10 candidates for six of the 24 committee seats to be contested on April 27. Four of the candidates are incumbent members. Two other new candidates with strong affiliations with China are the chairman of the Hongkong Exporters' Association, Mr Chan Wing-kee, who is a Hongkong affairs adviser and a Hongkong deputy to the National People's Congress; and Mr Tony Fung Wing-cheung, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of Sun Hung Kai Securities. The chamber's chairman, Mr Paul Cheng Ming-fun, said there was nothing against businessmen with political affiliations running for the committee. ''Is it a sin?'' he said, adding that members should not criticise a person simply because he was pro-China. Asked if the presence of these candidates would compromise the chamber's policy of being a purely economic body, Mr Cheng said members joined the chamber as businessmen and everyone was entitled to his own political views. Mr Ye, who is the vice-chairman of both the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission and the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, qualifies to stand for election as chief executive of the Shanghai desk of leading accounting firm ArthurAnderson & Co. He was a top aide to Mr Zhu when he was the mayor of Shanghai overseeing the opening up of the city, particularly the Pudong area. Mr Ye is believed to have been responsible for attracting foreign investment to Shanghai and had a high profile at that time. He said he came to Hongkong in September 1991 on a five-year secondment to run Arthur Anderson's Shanghai desk, which he said was a joint venture between the accounting firm and the Shanghai authorities. While conceding he still had responsibilities in Shanghai, he said he worked full-time in Hongkong. Mr Ye said he was standing for election not as a mainland official but as an employee of Arthur Anderson. He thought the chamber would benefit from having someone who had an insider's views of the Shanghai government. Asked to comment on concerns that the pro-Beijing elements were trying to win control of the organisation, Mr Ye said: ''Hongkong is a free society and a place for any comments.'' Mr Chan is out of town and Mr Fung declined to comment. The other new candidates are former legislator and managing director of textile manufacturer Manhattan Garments, Mr James Tien Pei-chung; Mr Tung Chee-chen of Orient Overseas Container Line, who is also the brother of Executive Councillor and Hongkong affairs adviser Mr Tung Chee-hwa; and the general manager of the Bank of East Asia, Mr Pang Yuk-wing. The four candidates standing for re-election are the chamber's first vice-chairman and legislator Mr Martin Barrow; Mr Lee Jark-pui of the Hongkong Chinese Bank; Mr David Humann of Price Waterhouse; and Mr Simon Lee Kwok-yin of Sun Hing Shipping.
