The true test of Tung's leadership will be forging a team from the territory's British-trained civil servants and his own entourage of China supporters. But some tycoons are snubbing Chan at receptions. Tung also wants to win over public support by reducing the cost of housing and improving the territory's education standards. Yet Tung's refusal to say anything that publicly distances himself from Beijing worries those people who want a leader who can stand up for Hong Kong. There is no strong and powerful leader on the political scene,'' admits one Tung adviser.
Some analysts believe that's precisely the way China wants it.
Beijing does not want to depend on one group,'' says China specialist Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, who adds that China often rewards the most obedient factions. Now, with the Foreign Ministry about to move into a 22-story office on July 1 and the People's Liberation Army arriving, these groups could establish alternative power bases, undermining Tung's authority. ''There is only one cook in the kitchen now and that's C.H. Tung and the Hong Kong SAR government,'' warns industrialist Raymond K.F. Chi'en, a member of the Tung Cabinet. As long as the Beijing-backed provisional legislature is in power, Tung is likely to get his way. But by March, when elections for a legitimate legislature might take place, Tung will need to build stronger political alliances to retain his effectiveness. I tell my Chinese friends that while they may be able to make a case for some of the changes they plan in a court of law, they must consider the court of international public opinion in dealing with this community after July 1,'' U.S. Ambassador to China James R. Sasser recently told a Hong Kong audience.