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Carrie Lam
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong democrats dine with Carrie Lam but controversial issues are off the menu

Social, education and health care policies discussed during informal dinner with members of pro-democracy camp as Hong Kong’s leader looks to improve relations

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(From left to right) Pan-democrat lawmakers Charles Mok, Joseph Lee Kok-long, Shiu Ka-chun, Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong and Ip Kin-yuen, leave Government House in Central after their dinner meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Photo: Handout
Alvin Lum

Five moderate democratic lawmakers in Hong Kong dined with city’s leader on Friday night in a move to improve relations that had deteriorated sharply under the previous administration.

It was the first informal dinner shared by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and any member of a democratic party since Lam assumed office last July.

Both sides exchanged views on policy issues but barely touched on the most controversial political issues, such as the recent furore over Occupy leader Benny Tai Yiu-ting’s independence remarks
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Tai’s suggestions at a forum in Taiwan in March that Hong Kong could “consider becoming an independent state” some day in a “democratic China” had sparked controversy with calls for him to be sacked from his teaching position at the University of Hong Kong.

Without spelling out her take on Tai, pro-democracy camp convenor Charles Mok said Lam “listened and understood our stance on various issues”. 

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Mok said they had shared a “frank and open exchange [of views] in a relatively casual setting” and that it had been “a good way for us to understand each other”.

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