A knight of the people's paradise

摘要

There was a time when China's supporters in Hong Kong dismissed Donald Tsang as a British stooge. But this week, with China's backing, he effectively secured the territory's highest post, raising the intriguing prospect of the proud recipient of a British knighthood in a job previously defined by the incumbents' unquestioning loyalty to the Communist government in Beijing. In 1997, when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China, there was even speculation that Mr Tsang (who shrewdly chooses not to call himself Sir Donald) would be ejected from the top echelons of the government he had served for three decades under colonial rule. He had worked closely with Chris Patten, Hong Kong's last British governor and a strident critic of Chinese policy toward the territory. Although in the last two years of British rule he was responsible for financial affairs, he occasionally spoke out against attempts by China to interfere in Hong Kong's administration.