Tsang To Appoint Hong Kong’s Legal And Financial Leaders To New Cabinet

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

26 September 2005

The complexion of Hong Kong's Executive Council is expected to change significantly when Chief Executive Donald Tsang announces his new Cabinet next month, with several prominent figures from the financial and legal world expected to be among those named.

According to a report in the Hong Kong Standard, sources close to the Tsang camp have revealed that the chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ronald Arculli, a barrister by profession, and the outgoing chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Charles Lee, will both be included in six new appointments from the legal and financial industries to the Cabinet during Tsang's policy address on October 12.

If so, it will mean that the number of 'unofficial', or non-governmental, members sitting on the Executive Council will increase from seven to twelve. Only three top policy secretaries - administration, justice and finance - will remain as official members of the Council. This is in contrast to Tsang's predecessor, Tung Chee-hwa, who appointed all 14 policy secretaries to the Council with seven unofficial members.

The government sources indicated that the complexion of the new cabinet is a sign that Tsang is keen to promote the growth of Hong Kong as a business and financial hub, while diluting the influence of pro-Beijing loyalists in the government.

Other non-official members of the new-look Executive Council are expected to include: Henry Fan, the managing director of China Trust and Investment Corporation; David Li, chairman of the Bank of East Asia and banking sector legislator; Marvin Cheung, former chairman of the Institute of Accountants and Lee's replacement as chairman of the stock exchange; and Victor Lo, chairman of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

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