Ma is a sweet gentleman who makes a big hit sitting next to you at Rotary Club luncheons. But don't get the wrong idea. Like Chien across the Taiwan Strait, Ma is all business and seriousness when it comes to advancing and protecting his own country's interests. (2)
Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa and his new international advisory council, including media baron Rupert Murdoch, met January 20, 1999 to explore tong-term development plans for the territory's battered economy.
It was the first meeting of the 14-member council, composed of corporate bosses and financial experts around the world, and came as Hong Kong's economy languished in a deep recession.
Tung, flanked by Financial Secretary Donald Tsang and Hong Kong Chief Secretary Anson Chan, led the business leaders into the closed meeting at the harbor-side convention center.
Other council members included: William Purves, former Chairman of HSBC Holdings: former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and Maurice Greenberg, Chief Executive Officer of American International Group Inc.
Greenberg is a member of a similar international advisory council for Shanghai, set up in 1988 by Zhu Rongji, then mayor of the Chinese metropolis and current Prime Minister.
Tung said "As far as we are concerned in Hong Kong, we are determined to make Hong Kong the premier international city in Asia. We look forward very much to your advice."
Government officials have said the talks would center on ways to ensure Hong Kong's long-term role as an Asian financial and transport hub rather than its immediate economic problems.
The talks come amid more grim economic news for the former British colony, which reverted to China in July 1997 and within months saw its economy hammered by Asia's economic crisis.
The government estimates the economy shrank by about five percent in 1998, and unemployment figures for the last quarter of 1998, showed a rise to a record 5.8 percent, from the previous three-month period's 5.5 percent.
Political and economic analysts praised Tung for seeking some global input, but expected little to come from the first meeting.
