Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam says she extended Beijing trip to be with son, not to meet officials to discuss chief executive race
City’s No 2 official also requests that journalists stop following her after her official activities in Beijing are over as she has not seen son for a long time
Hong Kong’s No 2 official Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has confirmed for the first time that she will stay in Beijing until Monday to spend Christmas with her son, but insisted that she will not meet any mainland officials to discuss her potential candidacy in the city’s leadership race next March.
Chief Secretary Lam also pleaded with the media to stop tailing her once she starts her holiday on Saturday, after attracting a media frenzy since her arrival in Beijing on Thursday amid intense speculation over her expected bid for Hong Kong’s top job.
Lam was set to hold a high-profile and rare press conference in the Forbidden City on Friday for a project to mark the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China.
She pledged to “reconsider” joining the chief executive race to succeed her boss Leung Chun-ying, who will be meeting President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Friday, after he ruled himself out of a second term two weeks ago.
Speaking on the sidelines of her visit to the Capital Museum on Friday morning, Lam said: “My colleagues will be returning to Hong Kong tomorrow, but I will stay here for two more days, because my older son is working in Beijing ... and I am spending Christmas with him. I will return to Hong Kong on Monday morning.”