Win for pro-China members

BEIJING-affiliated businessmen last night swept to victory in elections for the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce and are expected to tilt the balance of power in the high-powered general committee against liberal members.

All three pro-China candidates, including a Shanghai official, succeeded in forcing out incumbents. Their votes, however, were the lowest of the six winning candidates.

Mr Alex Ye Longfei, a former top-aide to Chinese Vice-Premier Mr Zhu Rongji and current vice-chairman of the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission, won one of the six seats being contested.

One of two expatriate members unseated was Mr Martin Barrow, the chamber's first vice-chairman, who is chairman of Jardine Matheson (China) and a director of Jardine Matheson Ltd.

The outcome will strongly boost the influence of the conservative and pro-China camps in Hongkong's leading trade association.

Intense lobbying in the run-up to the elections is understood to have produced the biggest number of proxy votes in the chamber's history.

Its chairman, Mr Paul Cheng Ming-fun, said the chamber, which has 3,600 members, received 1,031 proxy forms for this election compared with last year's 470.

The result prompted the chamber's representative in the Legislative Council and a committee member, Mr Jimmy McGregor, to predict that it would become increasingly political and pro-mainland.

But Mr Cheng, who has clashed with Mr McGregor on many occasions, insisted that he did not think some new members had secured their seats because of affiliations with the mainland.

Re-elected as chairman for a second year, Mr Cheng said: ''They are all successful businessmen. It isn't strange that they have close links with China.'' He said the general committee had 24 members and the fact that a few were close to the mainland would not mean the chamber should be labelled as pro-China.

Mr Cheng refused to comment on an allegation that the local branch of the New China News Agency (NCNA) had been asking mainland companies to vote for China-friendly candidates.

Mr Cheng said he had not heard of it and would not comment on rumours.

''I don't think we are any more political today than last year,'' he said.

But Mr McGregor said: ''It's becoming a very political organisation. It is now. And even more, of course, as we approach 1995, 1997.

''The chamber will become more and more political and certainly with more pro-China members in the general committee and then the general chamber.

''Now you see clearly that with [China's] support, which the group of six has, that's what politically could be done by good organisation. And if you like, good luck to them.'' Mr Ye refused to say if he thought his success was due to the fact he was a Chinese official, nor was he willing to comment on whether the NCNA helped him.

The other successful candidates strongly aligned with China were Mr Chan Wing-kee, a Hongkong affairs adviser and local deputy to China's National People's Congress, and Mr Tony Fung Wing-cheung, a local delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Mr Ye netted 728 votes, Mr Chan secured 793 and Mr Fung 823.

Other newly-elected members were Mr Tung Chee-chen, brother of Executive Councillor and CPPCC delegate Mr Tung Chee-hwa, who secured 856 votes; and former legislator Mr James Tien Pei-chun with 881.

Only one of the four incumbent candidates, Mr Simon Lee Kwok-yin, survived the challenge, gaining the highest vote of 1,042.

Mr Barrow said he was disappointed but stressed that he would continue to do what he could for the chamber.

His position as first vice-chairman was taken over by Mr William Fung Kwok-lun, formerly the second vice-chairman.

Parrying a question on whether he thought he was forced out by a concerted pro-China campaign, he only said: ''It was a democratic election.'' On whether he thought other candidates won because they had a stronger link with China, Mr Barrow said: ''Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.'' But he added that everybody in the chamber, whether they were on the general committee or not, believed it was important to have a sound relationship with China.

Mr Tony Fung refused to comment and Mr Chan left immediately after the election.

Mr Tien said there was no question of the Chinese attempting to seize power from the expatriates.

Rather, it had more to do with more choices being offered as the opening up of the chamber had made it possible for candidates other than those coming from the British-funded companies to run for the election, he said.

With better achievements in recent years, local companies would hope to have their voice heard.

On the labelling of some of the new members as ''pro-China'', Mr Tien said: ''If you say we are pro-China because we do business with China, you can say that all the 24 [general committee] members are pro-China. Which of them is not doing business with China?''