Hong Kong business groups meet prospective city leaders

Business chambers on Tuesday urged contenders for Hong Kong’s highest office to restore harmony in the city, while rural power broker the Heung ­Yee Kuk became one of the first groups to openly indicate its backing for ­former No 2 official Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Lam, perceived as Beijing’s preferred choice for the March election, former financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, and New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee held separate meetings with three business chambers on Tuesday. The fourth aspirant, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, gave a speech on his governance vision at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

While the kuk has yet to meet Lam after she declared her candidacy last week, its vice-chairman, Cheung Hok-ming, said the politically influential rural body had decided on Monday that all its 26 Election Committee members and chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung would bundle their nominations together. A candidate needs at least 150 nominations from the 1,194-member committee to be eligible, and at least 601 to win.

Cheung said the kuk “tended to support” Lam, and he and Lau had been invited to join her campaign team.

That caused some confusion between the kuk and Ip, who said she understood that the rural body was worried about upsetting New Territories villagers by endorsing Lam unanimously. Lam had been criticised by the villagers when she led a crackdown on unauthorised structures during her tenure as development minister.

Cheung later dismissed Ip’s claim and confirmed that the kuk had reached a consensus on its inclination to nominate Lam.