Front runner in Hong Kong leadership battle ducks debate

Jan 30, 2012, 9:46 GMT

Hong Kong - Two of the three candidates to be Hong Kong's next chief executive took part Monday in the first head-to-head debate for the post, two months before a new leader for the city is selected.

Leung Chun-ying and Albert Ho debated one another's policies on the Commercial Radio channel, but their sharpest barbs were reserved for the front runner, the city's former financial secretary and deputy leader Henry Tang, who declined to take part in the debate.

Pro-establishment candidate Leung said it was 'irresponsible' for a candidate to shun the debate while pro-democracy candidate Ho called for a direct debate between the three candidates for the public's sake.

Tang has declined repeated appeals to take part in public debates with his rivals, saying he would only debate with his rivals when all three have published their full policy platforms.

There is no public vote for Hong Kong's leader. Instead, the successor of Chief Executive Donald Tsang would be picked in March for a five-year term by a largely pro-Beijing, 1,200-member election committee.

Apart from criticism of Tang, the debate was dominated by questions about rising tensions between Hong people and the influx of mainland Chinese visitors.

Mainland women have accounted for nearly half of all births in Hong Kong public hospitals since the easing of border controls between China and the semi-autonomous former British colony.