Thousands of Tsang supporters rally ahead of naming of Hong Kong CEO

Feng Xue
By Feng Xue
March 24, 2017China News
share

Thousands of Hong Kong citizens rallied Friday, March 24, in support of former Finance Secretary John Tsang, who is running to be Hong Kong’s next chief executive.

However even the most ardent supporters realize the “election” is hamstrung.

Hong Kong was promised a high degree of self-rule under the “one country, two systems” arrangement the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agreed to when taking over the former British colony in 1997.

Twenty years later, the reality is “one country runs another.”

An “election committee” of 1,200 handpicked CCP loyalists chooses whoever the party tells them to choose—in this case, almost certainly former civil servant Carrie Lam.

Lam is the preferred candidate for the CCP’s Hong Kong Liaison office, and for Politburo standing committee member Zhang Dejiang. Both Zhang and the Liaison office are part of former CCP head Jiang Zemin’s political faction.

Tsang, more popular among Hong Kong’s 7.3 million citizens, is expected to get one-quarter of the vote.

“He’s not just less evil,” said Leonard Lee, a professional courier and Tsang supporter. “Anyone who has good personality, charisma, like honest, good to the Hong Kong people, that would be good. People in Hong Kong are very good quality I believe and we definitely need some good chief executive.”

Hong Kong witnessed weeks of street protest and violent repression when people pushed for universal suffrage in 2014.

The election, or as U.K.’s Guardian newspaper calls it, the “selection,” will take place on Sunday, March 26.

ntd newsletter icon
Sign up for NTD Daily
What you need to know, summarized in one email.
Stay informed with accurate news you can trust.
By registering for the newsletter, you agree to the Privacy Policy.
Comments