Hong Kong leader highest paid in Asia

Unchallenged Tung Chee-hwa won a second five-year term as Hong Kong's chief executive in February

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's leader Tung Chee Hwa is the highest paid official in Asia, taking home a salary that also outstrips U.S. President George W. Bush and towers above the pay packet of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A report in Monday's South China Morning Post revealed Tung earned an annual salary of US$625,641. Singapore, so often seen as Hong Kong's major economic competitor, paid Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong the second highest salary in Asian politics of $600,000.

Tung's hefty remuneration more than doubles that of the man at the helm of Asia's most powerful economy, with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pocketing a relatively paltry $307,000.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was a surprise performer in the salary stakes, claiming fourth place with a $110,300 annual salary.

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At the lower end of the Asian leaders' pay league are Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed ($65,000), Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ($32,188), Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ($24,000 U.S. dollars) and Vietnam's President Tran Duc Luong ($1,650).

Around the world, Bush earns $400,000 U.S. dollars a year and Blair, the highest paid leader in the European Union, earns $262,000 U.S. dollars.

Tung Chee Hwa has led Hong Kong since the handover from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and has this year begun a second five-year term after being returned unopposed by a largely pro-Beijing election committee.

Tung has presided over a serious downturn in Hong Kong's economic fortunes, however, and opinion polls indicate he is widely unpopular among the general public, who have no vote in choosing their leader.