Voters did seem leery of angering Beijing.

But so far his political flair and his proposals to make Hong Kong more democratic have angered Beijing and elicited loud complaints.

South Korea has said it will not publicly discuss details of its negotiations with China, for fear of angering Beijing.

Mr. Chen's refusal to do so has angered Beijing.

This came only a few days after President Bush angered Beijing by agreeing to sell American warplanes to Taiwan.

The investment bank angered Beijing by inviting senior Taiwan government officials to speak at conferences it sponsored earlier this year.

But its vast size angered Beijing, which suspected the colonial administration was seeking to deplete Hong Kong's Treasury.

"The government won't have anything to do with him, to avoid angering Beijing," said Lau Siu-kai, a professor at Chinese University.

Mr. Lee's remarks last summer that negotiations could only proceed on a "state-to-state" basis angered Beijing, leading it to cancel planned talks.

That move, defended by the company as necessary to protect it from hostile takeover attempts, further angered Beijing.