Man in the Middle

The

office Donald Tsang uses at his election-campaign HQ is small and austere—no ornaments, just a desk, a computer and chairs. The atmosphere is distinctly no-nonsense, and that was precisely Tsang's mood when he met TIME's Zoher Abdoolcarim and Austin Ramzy last Friday for a brisk conversation about democracy, his relationship with Beijing, and Hong Kong's competition. Excerpts:

TIME: Your re-election is a foregone conclusion. Why campaign at all?
TSANG: My objective is not only to win the votes of the 800 people who are the delegates in the Election Committee. My campaign is to win the hearts of the 7 million people of Hong Kong, convincing them that I'm the best man for the job. If I'm going to secure the votes of 800 people, it is a much easier exercise. I know many of them anyway. But winning the hearts of the people is a different exercise. I have to have a manifesto. I need to have an election platform. I want to tell people what I propose to do in the coming five years, and why those things are important to them and to me.

TIME: You sound like a natural politician. Wouldn't you welcome full democracy and direct election for Chief Executive?
TSANG: Certainly I would welcome that, and our constitution allows it ... In 2005 I tried to [implement] constitutional reform. I did not succeed, not because people didn't want it. People wanted it; there was majority support for it. But there were some bloody-minded politicians who wouldn't allow it through in the Legislative Council—against the people's wishes. But I'm not giving up ... This summer, based on [all] the various proposals I have received, I'm going to generate a [legislative] green paper on universal suffrage. I'm not talking about intermediate steps. I'm talking about how Hong Kong can achieve universal suffrage—in terms of time scale, in terms of design, in terms of how we end up getting there from here. People can consult and discuss. And then I will make a recommendation to the central government in Beijing. I will resolve the question of universal suffrage totally, completely, within my next term.

TIME: Can you achieve a compromise agreeable to everyone?TSANG: We have to. I'm appealing to the democrats, I'm appealing to everybody. I have, I hope, a reasonable feel of the people of Hong Kong on this subject. And I have some experience of dealing with this matter with the central government. So perhaps I'm the only person able to do this deal.

TIME: Does Beijing understand and appreciate how complex a society Hong Kong is today, with so many competing interests?
TSANG: They understand it very well. In fact, they understand it so well that they are a bit worried whether we are able to come to a consensus, which they are keen to have. When we achieve universal suffrage, it is so important that the majority of Hong Kong people support it, that it does not undermine Hong Kong's position as an international financial center, and that it not undermine our good relations with the mainland. Hong Kong people, whom I respect, also understand that this is a complex issue, and I have every faith they will make the right choice.

TIME: Many Hong Kongers—regular folk, not political opponents—say you and your government lack leadership and vision.
TSANG: That's an easy description of any leader. Tell me any living, serving leader who has been given the reputation of [being visionary]. That sort of accolade comes after their deaths. I've no ambition at all to be given the reputation: Ah, he's a visionary leader.

TIME: You worked a long time with the British, and now with the Chinese. What's the difference?
TSANG: We are a lot freer now. The only thing the central government has a keen interest in is our constitutional development. Every other thing, our economic policy, our social policy, is run from here. Before 1997, London would clear those things. Every morning I would spend three quarters of an hour reading telegrams from London, and do another two hours of [related] work. I never do that now.

TIME: So Beijing is not micromanaging your government?
TSANG: Not micromanaging. Not [even] managing. There are things they are interested in. Foreign affairs, but I don't care about that. That is done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative here. As for national defense, we have got the People's Liberation Army here. They are much more well-behaved and disciplined than their British counterparts before. Previously, every week, there would be brawls.

TIME: Given your British background, does Beijing trust you?
TSANG: I am the Chief Executive. I am the person appointed by the central government. I am the only constitutional link between the central government and the people of Hong Kong. I trust [Beijing] for being selfless in running Hong Kong. And I do not think that feeling is one-directional.

TIME: What city do you benchmark Hong Kong against?
TSANG: As an international financial center, there are only two global benchmarks for Hong Kong: New York and London. Other places cannot compare with us. You look at the basic fundamentals to be an international financial center. Dubai doesn't come into the [picture] at all. Singapore doesn't come into it. It still hasn't got the freedoms we enjoy. Benchmarks must be above you, ahead of you.

TIME: How does being a part of China affect Hong Kong's standing?
TSANG: It helps that we have a huge hinterland growing at a phenomenal rate. We generate a lot of services that cannot be provided by the mainland; it relies heavily on what Hong Kong can do in terms of ipos, banking, trading. So we have benefited enormously from the fact that we are now part of the Chinese nation. But even though we are No. 1, AAA, in terms of, say, infrastructure, rating agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's give us AA because we are part of this larger regional economy called China. That's unfair. I've argued with them that the China connection is a plus, not a minus.

TIME: What about the perception that China's not totally free, that there are human-rights abuses, that it's a one-party state?
TSANG: In terms of our goal as an international financial center, it highlights our importance, our uniqueness, in the nation. [International] business must be conducted in a place that has all the financial hardware and software, and the legal system, and the freedoms that those require. Those assets can only be found in Hong Kong.