‘Localism not a problem for me’, says New People’s Party chairwoman as she offers to meet fledgling group – but it insists she must first embrace idea of independence
STUART.LAU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 07 April, 2016, 8:28pm
New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Executive councillor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee has tried in vain to arrange a meeting with a newly founded pro-independence party labelled illegal by Beijing.
In trying to forge a dialogue with the Hong Kong National Party, the New People’s Party chairwoman even conceded localism “is not a problem” in an emailed invitation made public by the fledgling group.
“For me, localism itself is not a problem,” she said in the email. “Actually, who doesn’t love the city in which one lives?” It was totally up to the pro-independence party to decide the time, location and form of the meeting, she added.
Tipped to be interested in standing for chief executive in next year’s election, Ip has recently appeared more ready to engage a wider spectrum of society – this time, a group widely slammed by Beijing officials and her colleagues in government.
Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office slammed the establishment of the Hong Kong National Party as a threat to national security.
Justice secretary Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, has also said independence is contrary “to the Basic Law” – a constitutional document that carries no criminal consequences – and the government would look into any illegality.
The independence party, however, was unimpressed by Ip’s show of sincerity, saying that as former security minister she had a “lengthy list of wrongdoings” for her initiation of Article 23 national security legislation, which failed in the wake of a protest by 500,000 marchers in 2003.
“Mrs Ip has criticised localist agendas for having no future, but she now claims that localism is not a problem,” it said on its Facebook page, alongside a screen-grab of Ip’s email.
“It is proof that the pro-China camp is trying to deceive Hongkongers in the name of localism.”
The new party said it welcomed a meeting with Ip – but only if she vowed to embrace Hong Kong independence.
But that was understandably, a precondition too far for the former colonial official turned China supporter.
“All I want is a face-to-face exchange, which is in no way inconsistent with the illegal status of the claim the party is making,” she said. “I won’t agree to their condition as it is contrary to the law.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1934548/executive-councillor-regina-ips-email-overture-hong-kong-pro
