Inside track
SHE WAS THE woman whom Beijing did everything possible to stop becoming Chief Executive.
In 1996, they even specially wrote the rules for the contest - that led to Tung Chee-hwa being selected - in such a way as to stop Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang from standing. By requiring candidates to quit the civil service before being nominated, Beijing made it all but impossible for her to enter a race, despite her being far ahead in the popularity stakes.
Then last year, just as she was starting to look like a serious rival who could deprive Mr Tung of winning a second term in the 2002 contest, Beijing once again moved to try to put a stop to any prospect of her standing. Vice-Premier Qian Qichen's infamous instruction for her to 'better support' Mr Tung made it clear that mainland leaders had no intention of letting her step into the Chief Executive's shoes. And when driven to announce her resignation in January, Mrs Chan even accused unnamed members of the Beijing-friendly camp of trying to 'sow discord' between herself and Mr Tung.
With this unhappy history, no one would have been in the least surprised to see Mrs Chan direct some sharp words at Beijing and its local allies in her final speech before stepping down as Chief Secretary for Administration at the end of this month.
But Thursday's keynote address to the Asia Society contained nothing in this vein. Quite the reverse, her speech was littered with praise for Beijing and sympathetic understanding for its concerns.
It was not just her much-publicised satisfaction that President Jiang Zemin had left Mr Tung to deal with the Falun Gong in Hong Kong. Mrs Chan also insisted that Beijing had a 'legitimate interest' in any moves towards more democracy which, if not exactly a veto, amounted to something close to it.
'Whatever consensus we come up with, we have to make sure that Beijing is comfortable with it,' Mrs Chan said.
Her sharp words were reserved for those who still doubted China: 'Doubts held before the transition have lingered too long among some . . . who have not given the Chinese leadership sufficient credit'.
The Machiavellian interpretation - at which this column normally so excels - for all this is that she still wants to stand against Mr Tung: which would, of course, require China's blessing. But there is little other evidence of this, especially as Mrs Chan spoke of moving on to a 'quieter phase' of her life.
So perhaps there is another explanation - namely that, for all Beijing's conniving against her, Mrs Chan remains just as much of a Chinese patriot as Mr Tung - only in a different and far more sensible manner.
Whereas China-friendly shoe-shiners all too often equate patriotism with doing Beijing's bidding, Mrs Chan instead sees real patriotism as preserving what she called 'the greatest national interest at stake in Hong Kong' - the success of one country, two systems.
While that may include considering China's concerns over such sensitive issues as democratisation, real patriotism also involves not being afraid to stand up to Beijing when the SAR's basic freedoms and values are at stake.
Although that may be in China's broader national interests, it is a form of patriotism that risks going out of fashion unless others follow Mrs Chan in championing it.
Danny Gittings is the Post's Editorial Pages Editor
