The Hindu : Tung not to quit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 18, 2003

International

International

Tung not to quit

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE July 17. Trying to ride the crest of the current wave of political unrest in Hong Kong, the territory's Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, said today that he had no plans to quit office. Heading to Beijing on `duty' for talks with the senior Chinese leaders there on Saturday on the unfolding situation in Hong Kong, Mr. Tung maintained that he had never really considered resigning at any time during the escalating crisis over the issues arising out of his move to pilot a controversial national security legislation.

Mr. Tung dug his heels in, but in the manner of a newly attentive political dove and not in the posture of a hawk, even as he sought to engage in a damage-control exercise in the context of the latest resignations by Hong Kong's Secretaries for Security and Finance, Regina Ip and Antony Leung, respectively, on Wednesday. Mrs. Ip's resignation, ostensibly on grounds of ``personal matters'', was widely seen as a sop to mollify the outraged ``pro-democracy sections'' of Hong Kong, but Mr. Leung's decision had nothing to do with the ongoing popular `protest' over the proposed anti-subversion law. The Finance Secretary quit in the context of a cascading controversy over the impropriety of his alleged acquisition of a luxury car ahead of his own administrative move to raise car registration charges. Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration, Donald Tsang, noted that the "car purchase incident'' was unfortunate. While Mr. Leung's resignation went into immediate effect, Mrs. Ip would stay on as Secretary for Security until July 25.

Commenting on the proposed anti-treason law, she said: "As a Chinese national and the Secretary for Security, I sincerely believe I have a responsibility to actively promote this highly important legislative task''. In formulating the relevant (but controversial) proposals, the Hong Kong authorities had "tried (their) best to strike a balance between protecting national security (of China as also Hong Kong) and safeguarding Hong Kong people's rights and freedoms''. Echoing this refrain, Mr. Tung said the Hong Kong Government bore a `duty' to enact the proposed national security law.

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