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Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying says he won’t run for second term

HONG KONG — Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Friday (Dec 9) he will not stand for re-election next year for family reasons, in a surprise announcement that throws open the race to run the financial hub.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (C) arrives at the Lima Convention Centre to attend the APEC CEO Summit, part of the broader Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima in this Nov 19, 2016 file photo. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (C) arrives at the Lima Convention Centre to attend the APEC CEO Summit, part of the broader Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima in this Nov 19, 2016 file photo. Photo: AFP

HONG KONG — Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Friday (Dec 9) he will not stand for re-election next year for family reasons, in a surprise announcement that throws open the race to run the financial hub.

The Chinese government said they will respect his decision.

Mr Leung said he would step down at the end of his term in July after speculation intensified in recent weeks over who would get the nod from Beijing for leadership elections in March.

“If I run for the next term of the chief executive, I’m afraid my family will come under unbearable pressure in the coming months. I must protect them,” he said. 

“As a father, as a husband, I have a responsibility. In a family, my children have only one father, my wife has only one husband.”

Mr Leung did not elaborate but local media has reported that his daughter, Leung Chai-yan, 25, has been in hospital for more than a month, although the reasons are unclear.

Speculation on a new leader for Hong Kong is likely to focus on Mr John Tsang, the city’s financial secretary. All candidates have to be approved by a 1,200-strong Election Committee, made up largely of pro-Beijing establishment figures, who will then vote from among them for a new leader.

In Beijing, the Cabinet’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a statement saying it felt “deep regret” at the news but respected Mr Leung’s decision.

Pro-democracy campaigners however, said there would be “euphoria” at the news, while analysts said the announcement had come as a surprise, just three months before the election in which Mr Leung was widely expected to run for a second term.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said on Friday that some would be overjoyed at Mr Leung’s decision, but warned that campaigners should not be complacent as the system for choosing the city’s leader remains skewed.

“Whoever is chief executive is still going to be hand-picked by Beijing,” Ms Mo told AFP.

Hong Kong’s next leader faces a host of challenges with concern growing over the influence of Beijing in the semi-autonomous city as well as a fledging independence movement that has alarmed China’s Communist Party leadership. 

Mr Leung took office in 2012 and his term has been one of political crises with massive pro-democracy rallies in 2014 bringing thousands onto the streets calling for reform and for Mr Leung to step down. 

The failure of the protests to win any concessions left the city starkly divided between pro-establishment and pro-democracy camps and sparked an independence movement calling for the city to break entirely from Beijing.

China has expressed its fury over the movement, which it says is illegal and will damage Hong Kong’s prosperity. Last month, two lawmakers who support a split from China were barred from taking up their seats after an intervention from Beijing.

Analyst Professor Edmund Cheng said there were questions over how much support Mr Leung could rally from the pro-establishment camp after his rocky term, and Beijing may want a stronger candidate. Mr Leung secured only 689 votes of 1,200 in 2012.

“To assure that Beijing has better control of the current system, they may want to increase legitimacy of the next chief executive, and they may want someone to get more (votes) than that,” said Prof Cheng of the Hong Kong Baptist University. AGENCIES

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