Carrie Lam has officially announced her intention to run in the upcoming leadership election after tendering her resignation as the Chief Secretary of Administration this morning.
According to a government statement, which was released at 4pm, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has handed Lam’s resignation in to the central government to be approved. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung will be the acting chief secretary. During a press conference at 5pm, Lam confirmed the news, and clarified that the “sole reason” she stepped down was to participate in the Chief Executive election this March, i-Cable reports.
Earlier today, local media reported that Lam, the city’s No. 2 official, resigned at government headquarters this morning, before outlining her “vision for Hong Kong” to fellow government officials at a closed-door seminar at Science Park.
Ronny Tong, the convenor of think tank Path of Democracy, who attended this morning’s seminar, told SCMP that Lam was a “competent official”. “Her views on the future and governing Hong Kong are close to those of Path of Democracy, but more time is needed to understand in detail how she would govern,” he said after the meeting. Tong has previously been tipped by Apple Daily to join Lam’s campaign team.
He revealed that, at the seminar, Lam reiterated the need for greater governmental focus on social welfare, but added that it would not necessarily turn Hong Kong’s government “socialist”, Tong said.
It is not the first time that the outgoing chief secretary has publicised her eight-point achievable vision for Hong Kong. Last November, whilst giving a speech at a forum, Lam spoke for more than 20 minutes on what she envisioned for the territory, from the economy to the rule of law. At the time, she stressed that the speech should be treated as no more than “some heartfelt words from an official who has served in the government for 36 years”, although many outlets speculated that it was a “farewell” speech.
Despite previously stating she would not run for CE, Lam said she was “reconsidering” it after Chief Executive Leung announced that he would not seek re-election.
Lam’s resignation comes exactly one month after Financial Secretary John Tsang stepped down from his longtime post. On Monday, HKFP reported Chief Executive Leung as saying the departure of both secretaries would inevitably affect government work.
