Exclusive | Beijing wants ex-Hong Kong police chief Andy Tsang, a tough-on-crime official, to lead UN agency fighting drug crimes
- Tsang is unapologetic about his tough approach to policing
- It is Beijing’s first attempt to fill a top position at a major international organisation since it arrested Interpol chief Meng Hongwei
China has nominated former Hong Kong police chief Andy Tsang Wai-hung to be the next leader of the United Nations organisation fighting drug crimes, the South China Morning Post has learned.
The nomination is China’s first attempt to fill a top position at a major international organisation since it detained Meng Hongwei, then the head of the global policing body Interpol, last year.
If chosen for the job of executive director at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Tsang would be the second Hongkonger Beijing had put forward to take the helm of a major UN branch after Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, who was director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 2007 to 2017.
Tsang, 61, who led the Hong Kong Police Force during the Occupy protests in 2014, could not be reached for comment. Late last month he visited Vienna, where UNODC is headquartered, to lead a Chinese delegation in his capacity as deputy director of Beijing’s National Narcotics Control Commission.
The trip was scheduled so he could attend the 28th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, organised by the UNODC.
