NEWS: Unpopular Hong Kong Leader Quits, Cites Poor Health, page 1

Unpopular Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa has resigned today, stating the reason being due to poor health and ending nearly a week of speculation. Although stating his health as the reason, many believe he was actually fired Chinese leaders for violating a promise of theirs to give the city a high degree of autonomy. It is believed his deputy, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, will replace him and see out the remainder of the term.

www.reuters.com
Tung's fate was apparently sealed in December when Chinese President Hu Jintao scolded him in public for poor performance in an unprecedented rebuke, analysts said.

Analysts believe Beijing will also keep Tsang on a tight leash, with little hope for any significant political reforms during his term in office, let alone full democracy.

Tung began his tenure enjoying the goodwill of Hong Kong residents, but the public quickly turned against him when Asia's financial crisis triggered the first of three recessions that Beijing's hand-picked man seemed powerless to prevent or ease.

Unable to vote him out of office, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets in huge demonstrations in 2003 and 2004 demanding the right to elect their own leaders.

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It is believed amongst many that the health reasons stated are just to save face, and in fact he was removed by leaders in the hope of calming down the situation over there after people reacted angrily to the recession under him. They demanded they be able to elect their own leader, which caused panic in communist China amongst leaders and will no doubt hope his resignation will please the people.

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[edit on 10-3-2005 by John Nada]