Legislator unafraid to speak his mind

IT IS uncommon in Hongkong politics to meet someone like 39-year-old Henry Tang Ying-yen. Seamlessly Chinese and impeccably overseas-educated, he knows most of his peers would have diplomatically declined the offer of being an appointed legislator. Like Mr Tang, they know they don't have to do it.

Power in Hongkong, they know, can be executed in other less public ways. And Mr Tang, as the scion of a rich, cultivated Cantonese family, could do just that, without having to attend repetitious Legco debates, faction-driven panel meetings and late-night telephone calls from the media.

There are other frustrations too, of which the biggest is the limited power of Legco members.

What then, is the public to make of Henry Tang, the wry patrician who has come to represent thoughtful comment for pro-business interests in the 18 months he has served as a legislator? And, is he worthy of support as a legislator who will represent the political party to emerge from the ashes of the right-wing Legco group, the Co-operative Resources Centre? Even for Mr Tang's advocates, this is a difficult question. He said last week that he was new to politics: ''I am still learning.'' But nobody could accept that as a straightforward statement.

The eldest of four children, brought up by a father who turned his Peninsula Knitters textile group into one of the most successful manufacturers in Hongkong, he was educated locally and sent off at 18 to the Michigan State University in the United States. He was a serious student and developed a high profile that resulted in his election as student union president on a campus that had more than 1,000 Hongkong students enrolled on the university's undergraduate courses.

From there Mr Tang went on to Yale to complete an MSc in behavioural sciences before he returned to work for his family's company at 23. At 28, he was made managing director, after he had pioneered with his father the establishment of a joint venture textile factory in Shenzhen.

''We made the decision after Deng had announced China's economic reform programme in 1979,'' he said. ''There was a risk to it, in that we did not know if the policies would remain in place but the fundamentals were there. There was an abundant supply oflabour, when Hongkong was experiencing a labour shortage, and the wages were low.'' This disingenuous admission of sensible commercial practice is the side of Henry Tang that was probably responsible for the offer by the former governor, Sir David (now Lord) Wilson, of the appointment in 1991 to the first partially enfranchised Legislative Council.

And it certainly provides a framework for his executive councillor status in the pro-Beijing Business and Professionals Federation, his CRC membership and his support for the establishment of a conservative political party.

What it does not explain is his reputation as a complex political figure who does not support the Patten reforms but is basically in favour of democracy. ''I suppose I am in a position to understand both sides. I do not know the reasons Patten chose to put these proposals forward at this time.

''If the decision was based on the idea that the present leadership would be gone, and the leaders-designate would be different, then that is wishful thinking,'' he said.

''Except for Deng, most of them will be around in 1997. And I am certain that at the moment they mean what they say about the reforms - that if they go ahead in a form that Beijing does not accept then that they will be dismantled in 1997.

''But having said that it is encouraging that the two sides are planning to begin discussions. They may not be talking about the issues of reform but at least they are talking. It will help to set up a shape of future discussions.

''Both sides, in my view, have painted themselves into a corner and they know that. What will the Chinese do? Who can say? But they can do what they have done before, which is to walk over the paint to the door, go through the door and turn around and say: What paint?'' In the meantime, Mr Tang and his fellow travellers in Legco and the elastically pragmatic BPF, are recorded as being without any electoral base while placing themselves in the pockets of Beijing.

In January, a few days before Beijing heightened the intensity of its attacks on the Patten blueprint, Mr Tang, in a letter signed as a spokesman for the CRC, argued that Mr Patten must amend his plans if Hongkong were to remain economically prosperous.

He said: ''The call for Patten to withdraw his proposals is unrealistic. If Lord Wilson was regarded as a lame duck leader then Patten would be a dead duck if he agreed to that. I don't think either side realistically expects that.

''I, like many others, have interests in China but I don't jump when they say jump. I think Hongkong people understand that. The bulk of the population is moderate.

''I think they are largely like me. I want the promises made by Britain and China in the Joint Declaration and as laid out in the Basic Law to be honoured.

''China does not want to show the world that under its sovereignty Hongkong is a failure after 1997. They want to demonstrate that it will be run on the terms of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law because their success will be a factor in their Taiwan policy.

''In Beijing, Hongkong is much lower down the agenda than Taiwan, which is at the top. If they [the Beijing leadership] are seen to be too heavy-handed with Hongkong then the growing support for an independent Taiwan could receive increasing local and international support.'' ''We have to be realistic. We don't have a choice in Hongkong. I don't have a problem with being part of China after 1997. But I want to insist that Hongkong be consulted on any agreements that are reached.'' This too may be wishful thinking on the part of Henry Tang. Or it may not. Unlike BPF chairman Vincent Lo and the scores of accomplished business leaders Hongkong has nurtured in its economic expansion, Henry Tang says what he thinks. On the record, it is complex. He is a conservative. He is at ease with Chinese sovereignty after 1997, as long as Beijing sticks to promises. Meanwhile, he wants to preserve what the territory has in terms of political structure and limited democracy.

The test will be whether the voters he hopes to attract to the new conservative party he will help to launch, have the same attitudes and produce sufficient votes to provide a counterbalance to the pro-democracy liberals in the present Legislative Council.