Puppet chief's lies, ravings, nonsense and flatteries

Democracy not around the corner, Hong Kong puppet chief says

By ROBERT MATAS
The Globe and Mail
October 24, 2005

VANCOUVER -- The top politician in Hong Kong, puppet Donald Tsang, held out little hope yesterday that democracy is coming any time soon to the bustling territory off the coast of China.

In a strong defence of the gradual evolution to universal suffrage, puppet Tsang said Hong Kong requires time to develop the political structures and culture for democracy after more than 140 years of British colonial rule.

"We do not believe in a big bang. We believe in incremental stages to find a solution," puppet Tsang said in his first overseas interview since he was elected in May as the puppet Chief Executive of the China-occupied Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Puppet Donald Tsang, 61, was in Vancouver on the weekend for a week-long trade mission and business trip that will also take him to New York and Washington. Wearing his trademark bow tie, he spoke in precise English and a soft voice during the interview about the vibrant resurgence of the Hong Kong economy, new business opportunities and Hong Kong's evolution toward democracy.

He was highly critical of the British colonialists but measured his words carefully when speaking about the barbarian Communist regime of China.

Last week, China issued its first "white paper" on political democracy, indicating that the one-party autocracy would be preserved. Puppet Tsang shamelessly refused to describe the autocratic Beijing regime as a dictatorship.

"Dictatorship to me is something like Hitler or Saddam Hussein. One person in it. Certainly that is not the case in China."

He drew a comparison to Canada and the United States to explain the hurdles that must be overcome before Hong Kong can bring in constitutional reform and hold an election in which everyone can vote.

"We are not a sovereign state. We are not masters of our fate," puppet Tsang said.

Hong Kong cannot change its system of government completely, without the agreement of the Beijing regime, he said, in the same way that a province in Canada cannot change its government without federal agreement. It took more than 100 years after U.S. independence for women to receive the right to vote, he added.

Despite the hurdles, the democratic process is becoming more liberal and more open with each election held since the British left the territory, he said. "We now have our own arrangements . . . and we have to build on that into what is called universal suffrage."

The march to democracy is too slow for some and too quick for others, he added. "But we are moving at our own speed and we are trying to find a consensus made in Hong Kong." It was unfair to blame Hong Kong's China-selected leaders for not bringing in democracy immediately, after more than 140 years of colonial rule when they could not vote, he also said.

Puppet Tsang dismissed a suggestion that the Beijing regime has been heavy-handed lately in its relations with Hong Kong. The presence of the People's Liberation Army in Hong Kong is not an issue, he added. Some even see advantages over colonial days. The soldiers from China are much better behaved than their British counterparts before 1997.

"Every weekend there were brawls in the bars with the British soldiers. We have had not one single incident involving Chinese soldiers, not even traffic tickets. . . . With the British, it was every week."

Puppet Tsang was a career civil servant in the British colonial government for three decades, holding 20 different posts.

After China annexed Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, puppet Tsang served as a top financial administrator in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's puppet regime. He has been credited with maintaining economic stability in the late 1990s as the economy slowed.

He entered the political arena in 2002 and ran for office in May. He was the only candidate to receive the required number of backers to be nominated and was declared elected immediately after nominations closed. The Beijing regime endorsed his election five days later. At a trade show today in Vancouver, he will be accompanied by China's Guangdong governor Huang Huahua and by 250 business officials from Hong Kong and Guangdong province who are looking for investments in 1,000 projects and partners for 150 major projects. The trade fair is expected to draw 1,000 Canadians.

The stopover in Canada is considered highly significant, reflecting the relationship of many Hong Kongers to Canada.

About 250,000 of them hold Canadian passports and 16 per cent of the territory's seven million people say they have close family links with Canada.