HONG KONG: Two of Hong Kong's top ministers announced their resignations within hours of each other yesterday as the government's biggest political crisis in years deepened.
The unprecedented resignations raised questions whether the rapidly-crumbling administration of Hong Kong leader Mr Tung Chee-hwa was still able to govern, and how much longer he would be able to survive in office.
A late-night government statement said Mr Tung would fly to Beijing on Saturday to brief Chinese officials on the latest situation in the former British colony, handed back to China in 1997.
The departure of controversial Security Secretary Ms Regina Ip and Financial Secretary Mr Antony Leung had been widely expected following mass protests in recent weeks against the government's controversial plans for an anti-subversion law and growing public anger at its failure to revive the sputtering economy.
But political analysts said the resignations would not be enough to defuse political tensions, and might even increase public pressure on the government to allow Hong Kong people to elect their own leaders, a demand sure to alarm Beijing.
"Beijing's biggest worry is that Hong Kong will get out of control and demand full democracy.
"To the communists things must be under control - what if such a trend occurs in other places in China, and they start wanting more autonomy?" said political commentator Mr Lo Chi-kin.
Analysts were divided over how investors in the territory would react to the resignations, announced after financial markets closed yesterday.
Some said the stock market, which has been a laggard in the region this year, would fall today because Mr Leung's resignation could lead to uncertainty about economic policies.
Others said the resignations might prove an encouraging sign that the government would be more responsive to public demands in the future and sidestep more political turmoil.
Late yesterday Economic Development Secretary Mr Stephen Ip was named to take over Mr Leung's job on a temporary basis.
No replacement was immediately announced for Ms Regina Ip, who was one of the highest-ranking women in the government. As the official who tried to drive through the subversion bill, she had come under fierce fire from the public, human rights groups and legal experts.
Opponents of the legislation say it poses the biggest threat to human rights in Hong Kong since 1997. They fear it will be used to silence anyone critical of leaders in Hong Kong or in Beijing.
"One day you'll thank me for it," Ms Regina Ip told students who were critical of the bill.
Last year, she rebuffed critics of the planned law by saying: "Don't believe democracy will be a panacea. Adolf Hitler was returned by universal suffrage and he killed seven million Jews."
Mr Leung became embroiled in scandal this year after he bought a $100,000 car just weeks before he announced a tax rise on new vehicles.