MAINLAND leaders are reported to be immensely satisfied with Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang's handling of the right of abode affair.
In the Hong Kong policy establishment in Beijing, she has long been known as the only public figure with 'the keys to the Rolls-Royce'.
That refers to her inside track to the political establishment left behind from the colonial era. This includes Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang, who sat on former Governor Chris Patten's Executive Council.
Mrs Chan is seen as having used her close ties to the pre-handover elite to facilitate the Court of Final Appeal's controversial 'clarification' in late February and to help ensure the defeat of the no-confidence motion against Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie.
It was her performance on those two occasions which convinced Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Beijing that she should be kept on as chief secretary.
When the abode controversy heated up, they also decided that she should be entrusted with the job of mobilising the civil service and preparing public opinion for the only course acceptable to the central Government: requesting an interpretation from the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
While the rule of law may have suffered as a result of this affair, pundits are already suggesting that Mrs Chan's standing with Beijing may prove one of the biggest beneficiaries of the greatest political storm here since the handover.
