Leung willing to give up national role: ally

Former leader Leung Chun-ying would be willing to give up his national position if that is what it takes to stand in the chief executive election next year, supporter Cheung Chi-kong says.

Leung could fight it out with incumbent Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as pro-establishment politicians drum up support for the two hotly tipped candidates.

But former Executive Council member Cheung said in an interview with local media HK01 yesterday that he is unsure whether Leung will join the race set for March 27 next year.

If Leung does, he will be the first former Hong Kong leader to seek the same position.

Cheung said if Leung is reelected and finds it difficult to juggle roles - he is also a vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - he would not hesitate to drop the CPPCC position.

Cheung said he does not think it would be a downgrade for Leung to be the head of the SAR and vice chairman of the CPPCC at the same time.

If Leung holds a dual position, it would be an advantage as it would allow him to strive for benefits from Beijing for Hong Kong, he said.

After the electoral change, Cheung said the central government no longer has to worry about whether elections may affect China's interests.

He said people who will damage China's interests will not be able to enter the chief executive election as candidates will be patriots.

"When it comes to the criteria for being a chief executive, why is it necessary to have as many as four criteria? The most important thing is ability, ability, ability, ability."

Cheung said the central government should consider setting up a key performance indicator to measure the chief executive's performance and there should be consequences if Hong Kong's performance fails to meet a certain target.

Indicators to assess a chief executive's performance can include economic growth, employment rate, living conditions of the public and medical services.

"The central government wants the SAR to prosper and be stable. If there's no indicator, how can Beijing's monitoring power be implemented?" Cheung said.

Lam said yesterday in an online forum that Hong Kong's development will be stable following the implementation of the national security law and electoral change. She said integrating with China's development will be beneficial to various sectors.

As of last month, more job vacancies were included in the Greater Bay Area youth employment scheme than expected - from 2,000 job positions to 2,394 from 321 enterprises.

The scheme, launched in January, helps Hong Kong graduates gain jobs that pay at least HK$18,000 a month.

maisy.mok@singtaonewscorp.com

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