Cheung Chor-yung says with Carrie Lam facing the immense task of having to win over both Beijing and the Hong Kong public, her defeated rival John Tsang could play a key part in fixing the political divide
Is Hong Kong capable of producing a political leadership that has the confidence of both Beijing and the Hong Kong people? Unless and until we can give an affirmative answer to this question, the political tension in Hong Kong will not go away. Now that has won the small-circle election in the Election Committee to become the next chief executive, what should she do in order to help produce such a political leadership? We can expect that the Lam administration will refrain from tackling divisive issues like democratic reform and Article 23 national security legislation. Lam probably will push ahead her social/livelihood polices to help address the problems of housing, welfare, education and social mobility, hoping to improve ordinary citizens’ well-being. This may go some way to making Hong Kong a less polarised city. But the more challenging consideration is whether she will invite – the candidate supported by most moderates and who defeated her by a large margin in most opinion polls during the election campaign – to join her administration. This would be a bold move for both of them, since this may alienate some of their supporters and one may be sceptical if such a move would win the blessing of Beijing.
