CE Blamed DAB For Not Backing Govt: Tsang Yok-sing

Pro-Beijing heavyweight Tsang Yok-sing said Carrie Lam has made scathing remarks about the DAB and its failure to offer enough support for the administration, underlining the rift between the Chief Executive and the city's biggest pro-government party.

Appearing on the RTHK TV programme "The Screening Room", Tsang, who's the founding chairman of the DAB and a former Legco president, said Lam complained "rather impolitely" to him after she took the top job in 2017 that the party had for years failed to nurture and provide talent for the government.

Tsang also said Lam was unhappy with the performance of two DAB bureau chiefs, but decided to let one of them stay on to make its less embarrassing for the party.

Two DAB members served in the CY Leung administration: Greg So as commerce and economic development minister and Lau Kong-wah as the home affairs chief. When Lam became the Chief Executive, Lau continued his post and Edward Yau was named the head of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau.

Lau was subsequently replaced by another DAB member, Caspar Tsui, in a government reshuffle earlier this year.

On the role of his party, Tsang said the DAB's primary purpose is to win elections, not to develop talent for the government. He said he'd rather have strong DAB candidates running in elections rather than joining the government.

Tsang added that the DAB's mission is to support the administration's governance, regardless of who the Chief Executive is.

The pro-establishment heavyweight also revealed that Donald Tsang was the first Chief Executive to invite him to join the government, and that his successor, CY Leung, asked him to serve as an under secretary. Tsang said he declined Leung's invitation because he didn't like the post.

While Tsang had been previously mentioned as a possible Chief Executive candidate himself, he told the RTHK programme that even though he has good relations with both the pro-government and pan-democratic camps, he won't be trusted by either side.

He said among the difficulties facing the Chief Executive is the lack of wiggle room that comes with the top job.

Tsang recalled a conversation with New People Party's chairwoman Regina Ip, who said the two of them were the only ones from the pro-establishment camp qualified to become the Chief Executive.

He also said Ip pointed out to him that he did not have any experience in government.