Regina Ip

The Honourable Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee GBM GBS JP
葉劉淑儀
Ip in 2023
Convenor of the Non-official Members of the Executive Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2022
Appointed by	John Lee
Preceded by	Bernard Charnwut Chan
Non-official Member of the Executive Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2017
Appointed by	Carrie Lam John Lee
In office 17 October 2012 – 15 December 2016
Appointed by	Leung Chun-ying
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 January 2022
Preceded by	New constituency
Constituency	Hong Kong Island West
In office 1 October 2008 – 31 December 2021
Preceded by	Anson Chan
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Constituency	Hong Kong Island
Chairwoman of the New People's Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 January 2011
Preceded by	New party
Secretary for Security
In office 31 August 1998 – 25 July 2003
Preceded by	Peter Lai
Succeeded by	Ambrose Lee
Director of Immigration
In office 1996 – 1998
Preceded by	Laurence Leung
Succeeded by	Ambrose Lee
Director of Industry Department
In office 1995 – 1996
Preceded by	Denise Yue
Succeeded by	Francis Ho
Personal details
Born	Lau Suk-yee (1950-08-24) 24 August 1950 (age 73) Hong Kong
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	New People's Party
Spouse	Sammy Ip Man-ho ​ ​ (m. 1981⁠–⁠1997)​
Children	Cynthia Ip
Parent(s)	Lau Fook-seng Wa Choi-fung
Residence(s)	Bowen Road, Hong Kong
Education	St. Stephen's Girls' College
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong (BA) University of Glasgow (MLitt) Stanford University (MS, MA)
Signature

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee GBM GBS JP (Chinese: 葉劉淑儀; née Lau; born 24 August 1950) is a Chinese politician. She is currently the Convenor of the Executive Council (ExCo) and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), as well as the founder and current chairperson of the New People's Party. She was formerly a prominent government official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and was the first woman to be appointed the Secretary for Security to head the disciplinary service. She is also the founder and Chairwoman of Savantas Policy Institute, a think-tank in Hong Kong.

Ip became a controversial figure for her role advocating the passage of the national security legislation to implement Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, and after this legislation was withdrawn, she became the first principal official to resign from the administration of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. She took a sabbatical to study for a master's degree. She contested the 2007 Hong Kong Island by-election for the Legislative Council but was defeated by Anson Chan in the two-horse race. She ran again in the 2008 Legislative Council election and won, gaining a seat in the Hong Kong Island. She was re-elected in the 2012 and 2016 elections.

Ip is widely known to be keen on the Chief Executive top post. She ran in both 2012 and 2017 Chief Executive elections but did not secure a minimum number of 150 nominations from the 1,200-member Election Committee to enter the race on both occasions. In 2020, Larry Diamond, her supervisor at Stanford University, publicly criticized Ip's handling of the democracy movement and freedom of the press in Hong Kong.^[1][2]