Hong Kong chief executive candidate Regina Ip has second thoughts about joining Executive Council
Regina Ip of New People’s Party initially said she would not join leader’s advisory panel, but says Carrie Lam has now invited her to become a member
“I need to consider whether I could be of any help to the administration and how it would affect the positioning of my party,” Ip said.
“Mrs Lam won a landslide anyway. There’s no basic disagreement between me and her.”
There’s no basic disagreement between me and her
She was believed to have bagged only around 20 nominations, mostly from members of her own party – the New People’s Party.
Before conceding failure, Ip said in an interview in February that she had rejected offers of top appointments to national advisory bodies in exchange for dropping out of the election, likening them to “a consolation prize”.
Ip also said she was not interested in joining the Executive Council as a non-official member or becoming the chief secretary.
Asked why she might now be changing her mind, Ip said: “At first I was worried joining the government would affect the positioning of my party. But a party cannot always just stay in the attack mode if it wants to gain influence. It must have better access to the highest level of decision-making within the government.
“As part of the pro-establishment bloc, I can support the system, but it doesn’t mean I’ll support every [government] issue.”
