Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
As a result, the mainland stands accused of interfering in Hong Kong's judicial independ-
ence via intrusion into the city's legal system, and the apparent withholding of universal suf-
frage from Hong Kong citizens. Clearly the mainland government wields huge influence,
but in the first few years after the handover (at least up until the historic 500,000-strong an-
tigovernment protests of 1 July 2003, which changed Běijīng's stance on Hong Kong), it
largely chose to tread lightly, honouring the spirit of the handover agreement to a great ex-
tent.
In the wake of the Tiān'ānmén Square killings, local Hong Kong people with money and
skills made a mad dash to emigrate to any country that would take them. During the
worst period more than 1000 people were leaving each week, especially for Canada and
Australia.
The Clamour for Democracy
Tung Chee Hwa's first term is remembered as much for his confusing housing policy, which
many blamed for a sustained fall in property prices, as for such vacuous infrastructure pro-
posals as a Chinese medicine port. Despite his poor standing in the polls, Tung was returned
for a second five-year term in March 2002.
Controversy continued to dog his time in office, however, most notably in March 2003,
with the government's failure to contain the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
epidemic at an early stage, provoking a torrent of blame. The outbreak killed 299 people, in-
fected 1755 and all but closed Hong Kong down for weeks.
In July 2003 the government caused further controversy when it tried to turn Article 23 of
the Basic Law into legislation; the National Security Bill raised fears that Hong Kong's
press freedom and civil liberties would be undermined. In the face of massive public
protests - of 500,000 people or more - the government shelved the bill indefinitely.
In March 2005 Tung announced his resignation as chief executive. His replacement was
the bow-tie-wearing chief secretary Sir Donald Tsang, who had continuously served as
Hong Kong's financial secretary since before the handover through 2001, when he became
the city's number-two public official.
Compared to Tung, Tsang was a welcome replacement for both the Běijīng powerbrokers
and the Hong Kong public. In 2007 Tsang was easily re-elected with Běijīng's blessing.
However, he soon suffered an erosion of public confidence when he was seen to renege on a
series of promises, including delaying a highly anticipated consultation on reforming the
