March 18, 2015
Leung Chai-yan, the daughter of the Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, on Saturday at the amfAR gala for AIDS research.
Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Hong Kong’s leader, Leung Chun-ying, denied his daughter’s allegations on Tuesday that her mother had abused her and confined her to the family’s residence.
His daughter, Leung Chai-yan, 23, had written on Facebook on Tuesday morning that her mother, Regina Tong Ching-yee, “literally just pushed me up against a wall” and “slapped” her. She also said that she was denied access to the police and hospital services.
“What you see on the outside — in public — is not what you see behind closed doors,” she wrote on her Facebook page, which has since been shut down. “Would love to record a typical episode of my mother’s deranged and violent tirades and show the public who she really, really is. She needs help.”
#HongKong chief CY Leung says Chai Yan does have some health issues http://t.co/sE802F24AP — Fion Li (@fion_li) 17 Mar 15
After initially declining to comment on his daughter’s claims, which circulated widely online, Mr. Leung, Hong Kong’s chief executive, called an urgent news conference Tuesday afternoon. He said that Ms. Leung had health problems and was feeling the stress of being a public official’s daughter.
“We definitely will give her whatever medical assistance she needs as and when necessary,” he said.
Earlier in the day, an ambulance was seen entering and then leaving the Government House compound, the family’s official residence, apparently without carrying a patient.
Ambulance at Government House after CY Leung’s daughter posts Facebook messages http://t.co/ISAFQtIAqa — KMK (KO Man Kit) (@kmk_art) 17 Mar 15
Mr. Leung said he went to check on his daughter in their residence. “When I went back, the police said no one was injured,” he said. “We can use our common sense. How is it possible to imprison a 20-something in Government House against her will?”
This is not the first time that Ms. Leung has spoken of personal troubles in public. Last year, she posted a photograph online that appeared to show a slashed wrist, and she has talked about having depression.
The latest controversy comes as her father is mired in political gridlock after months of pro-democracy protests last year that have divided Hong Kong society. Joshua Wong, a prominent student leader of the protests, wrote an article online in support of Ms. Leung, criticizing what he called her “spiteful” mother, who has criticized Ms. Leung’s freewheeling night life and compared her to a prostitute.
