HONG KONG: A former Hong Kong security chief who stepped down after mass protests and is loathed by the city’s pro-democracy camp said on Thursday (Dec 15) she will run for leader, as opponents warn she would be a Beijing puppet.

The race for chief executive was thrown open when leader Leung Chun-ying declared last week he would not seek reelection after a term marked by political crises and anti-Beijing protests.

Since then, finance secretary John Tsang, considered more moderate, has resigned from the government and is widely expected to declare his leadership bid.

But he has been beaten to it by Regina Ip, who Thursday announced her “Win Back Hong Kong” campaign.

Instrumental in the government’s failed 2003 attempt to push through a hugely unpopular anti-subversion law, Article 23, Ip is a divisive figure seen by opponents as a China-friendly hardliner like Leung.

She said on Thursday she still wants to implement the controversial legislation at the same time as striving for social harmony in Hong Kong.

The deputy of Ip’s New People’s Party, Louis Shih, said Ip would be the “iron lady” that Hong Kong needs as she announced her candidacy at the city’s harbourfront convention centre.

Ip said she was willing to work with non-establishment parties “as long as they faithfully uphold national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Basic Law (Hong Kong’s constitution)”.

Those remarks come as the government cracks down on lawmakers calling for independence or self-determination for semi-autonomous Hong Kong, frustrated by a lack of democratic reform and Beijing interference.

Two legislators have been banned from taking up their seats and four more face disqualification after an intervention from Beijing.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo said Ip would be “anxious to show Beijing that she’s loyal”.

Civic Party lawmaker Alvin Yeung described Ip as a symbol of hardline politics.

Ip resigned from government in 2003 after the proposed anti-subversion law brought half a million protesters onto the streets as critics said it infringed human rights.

City residents demonised the then security secretary by making fun of her hairstyle, calling her “broomhead” and “dragon lady”.

After a break from politics, a reinvigorated Ip has mobilised a strong pro-establishment base and won three legislative elections.

In citywide parliamentary polls in September, she scooped 60,000 votes, one of the highest number received by any candidate.

Ip would become Hong Kong’s first ever female leader if she won.

The chief executive is chosen by a 1,200-strong committee of representatives of special interest groups, weighted towards Beijing.

Mass pro-democracy rallies in 2014 called for fully free leadership elections but failed to win concessions.

Analysts on Thursday said Ip would be an underdog if Tsang and current government number two Carrie Lam run for the leadership, as she is still tarnished by the 2003 protests.

One other candidate has declared they are running for the leadership so far – retired judge Woo Kwok-hing who has said he will prioritise political reform.

SEOUL – South Korea’s agriculture ministry raised the country’s bird flu alert status to the highest level for the first time on Thursday (Dec 15) as the disease has spread quickly nationwide.

The heightened alarm status comes as the country grapples with an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu that started a month ago. Since then, South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has culled over 12 per cent of its poultry population to contain the spread of the virus.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement released on Thursday that it will come up with detailed measures to combat the disease under the higher alert status after consulting with related ministries.

The ministry had already ramped up quarantine measures to tackle the spread of the H5N6 virus including issuing a temporary nationwide movement ban as an increasing number of farms have reported outbreaks.

There have been 53 cases of the virus confirmed since mid-November, with another 21 cases being tested, according to the ministry statement.

Outbreaks of avian influenza have been reported in Japan and several European countries including France, which raised its bird flu risk level to high last week.

Cases of human infections from the H5N6 virus have been previously reported elsewhere including China, where it killed 10 people, but no cases of human infections have been detected in South Korea.

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte risks impeachment after he admitted “personally” killing criminals when he was the mayor of Davao City, said two Philippine senators.

The firebrand leader boasted to business leaders on Monday that as Davao City mayor he used to prowl the streets on a big motorcycle looking for “an encounter to kill” just to show to local law enforcers he can do it.

“I used to do it personally,” Duterte said. “If I can do it why can’t you?”

More than 2,000 people have been killed in police anti-drug operations since Duterte became president in July. Almost all were shot when they resisted arrest.

Another 3,000 deaths are under investigation, with critics calling them vigilante killings.

Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte, said the president’s admission could be a ground for impeachment.

“That is betrayal of public trust and that constitutes high crimes because mass murders certainly fall into the category of high crimes. And high crimes is a ground for impeachment under the constitution,” de Lima told CNN on Thursday.

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the senate justice committee, also said Duterte opened himself to possible impeachment proceedings following his controversial comments.

“When he says that, he’s opening himself up, so what’s the legal way, then go ahead and impeach him,” he told reporters, adding he was not surprised by the statement.

Duterte’s allies in Congress dared the president’s opponents and critics to file an impeachment motion, saying removing the leader through a political process is a numbers game.

There are less than 50 opposition lawmakers in the 293-member lower house of Congress. A two-thirds vote is needed to impeach a president.

Peter Wallace, who organised the business forum where Duterte spoke, thought the president’s statement was his “usual bravado.”

“He talked as he often does about drugs, and killings and criminality. And we had expected that he would but we were there not to listen to that,” Wallace told Reuters by phone.

“We were there to talk to him or listen to him about business issues and I was pleased that…he moved on to those subjects,” he said.

Justice Minister Vitaliano Aguirre dismissed Duterte’s statement as an exaggeration.

“It’s like a hyperbole, that’s the president, he is used to exaggerate just to put his message across,” Aguirre was quoted in radio reports as saying on Thursday.

Even if that were true, Aquirre said it did not necessarily mean that he violated the law.

“It could be done with a justifiable cause and justified circumstances as a public officer in order to arrest but if they resisted. He must have been forced,” Aquirre said, referring to Duterte.

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