Secretary of Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing and Secretary for the Civil Services Paul Tang have resigned from their posts, as announced suddenly by Chief Executive CY Leung on Tuesday.
The move, which came as a surprise, has led to much speculation. It has been reported that the two resignations were involuntary, with the SCMP suggesting they came about because both Leung and Beijing were unhappy with Tsang and Tang’s performances.
Tsang was replaced by Lau Kong-wah, the undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, while Commissioner of Customs and Excise Clement Cheung will take over Tang’s position.
As of now, 11 cabinet members or top officials have left Leung’s administration since his inauguration in 2012.
Tsang said he was “now… glad to retire”, while Tang said it was “time to step down” due to “unforeseeable family circumstances”.
Some critics of the CY Leung administration suspect that the two ministers were dismissed rather than having exited voluntarily, an allegation that sources close to the government have apparently confirmed.
The Chinese government’s consent to the move “proves its support of Leung”, according to the pro-Beijing online media Speak-Out.
Tsang’s brother, LegCo President Jasper Tsang, told RTHK that he was sure the now-former home affairs secretary was not “actively seeking to resign”.
However, he said the move may only be a “natural” change to suit Leung’s priorities, rather than being due to any scandals or issues of underperformance.
Labour Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said he believes the removal was made in an effort to pave way for Leung’s re-election. He also said he suspects the two have had major disagreements with Leung.
“[Leung] wishes to build a team that would follow his lead and finish the [re-election] work within the coming two years”, he told Apple Daily.
Lee said he is worried that Tsang’s successor, Lau Kong-wah, will focus too much on the pro-Beijing camp in the upcoming elections, thus undermining Hong Kong’s fair electoral system.
Lau, a pro-Beijing political veteran, will be in charge of community work, youth affairs, and even resource allocation among the 18 district councils under his new appointment.
He started his career in the pan-democratic camp in the 1980s, but left and started his party after his defeat at a Legislative Council election in 1991. He later joined the pro-Beijing DAB.
Lau was admitted into Leung’s cabinet as the head of Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau in 2012, three months after his electoral defeat as a DAB candidate.
Pro-democracy activists have given him the mocking moniker “rubbish bin” because of the classic photo at the top of this article.
He was also the only participant who did not speak during a televised debate between government officials and representatives of the Hong Kong Federation of Students during last year’s protests.
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