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Former Hong Kong leader Tung ‘unscathed’ after replay of Iron Lady’s Great Hall trip

蘋果日報 2021/03/06 06:07


Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader, Tung Chee-hwa, was “unscathed” after taking a tumble as he was leaving the annual meeting of China’s legislature in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Friday, bringing back memories of late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s ill-fated fall there following a 1982 meeting on Hong Kong’s future with the then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
The 83-year-old vice chairperson of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference was among hundreds of officials and lawmakers who attended the opening ceremony of the National People’s Congress annual plenum, the nation’s most important political gathering, which sets the agenda for a multitude of goals and objectives for the year.
The former chief executive momentarily lost his balance and appeared to have fallen to the floor when walking down some stairs at the end of the ceremony. Cameras that had been taking in the general scene then swung to focus on Tung as he was being helped back to his feet.
Former Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying and incumbent leader Carrie Lam were also present, and both came forward to ask if he was all right.
Tung could be seen patting Lam’s shoulder and shaking hands with several other delegates, including Leung, before leaving the hall.
Tung missed his footing when saying goodbye to people he knew, a spokesperson for his office said in response to media inquiries.
“Thank you for your concern. I’m fine,” he later told Think Hong Kong, a pro-Beijing think tank he founded in 2016. “Forgot to pay attention to my feet. I stumbled a bit. Please rest assured that everything is fine,” he said, according to an article on the think tank’s website.
This was not the first time Tung has toppled in public. In 1997, he fell on stage shortly after he took office, during an event to promote voter registration in the Legislative Council elections. On March 10, 2005, Tung resigned as Hong Kong Chief Executive, citing leg pain.
Thatcher’s fall outside the same hall was broadcast globally and led many to surmise that she was preoccupied with the lessons Deng had made during their meeting.
According to the Hong Kong Department of Health, the reasons causing older adults to fall include poor eyesight, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, knee degeneration and abnormal heart rhythm, to name but a few.
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