Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive,stopped short of withdrawing the proposal. Protesters want the bill axed, Lam’s resignation and the release of demonstrators arrested this week
Hong Kong’s leader suspended efforts to pass a bill allowing extraditions to China, in a dramatic reversal that she said was necessary to restore order in the Asian financial hub and avoid further violence and mass protests.
Lam stopped short of withdrawing the proposal, which would let Hong Kong reach one-time agreements with mainland China and other jurisdictions, arguing that would contradict her belief that reform was necessary. She said, however, it was unlikely the government would seek its passage before the end of the year.
The move failed to satisfy organizers of a planned 3 p.m. protest Sunday, who urge the bill’s withdrawal, Lam’s resignation and the release of demonstrators arrested this week. “We are disappointed and angry after this press conference,” Jimmy Sham, convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, said at a news briefing Saturday.
Western government concernWhile Beijing expressed repeated support for the proposal, several Western governments raised concern that it undermines the “one country, two systems” framework that guaranteed free speech, capitalist markets and independent courts in Hong Kong after its 1997 return. U.S. lawmakers had threatened to reconsider the city’s special status that supported US$38 billion in trade last year.
Eroding AutonomyThe legislation is part of a series of measures that pro-democracy advocates say has eroded Hong Kong’s autonomy. Lam, who was selected by a 1,200-member committee stacked with Beijing loyalists, has struggled to convince critics that the bill was her own initiative and not ordered up by Chinese authorities.
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