HongKong leader CarrieLam says she would quit if she could, fears her ability to resolve crisis now 'very limited'
HONG KONG - Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said she has caused"unforgivable havoc" by igniting the political crisis engulfing the city and would quit if she had a choice, according to an audio recording of remarks she made last week to a group of businesspeople.
Hong Kong has been convulsed by sometimes violent protests and mass demonstrations since June, in response to a proposed law by Mrs Lam's administration that would allow people suspected of crimes on the mainland to be extradited to face trial in Chinese courts. World leaders have been closely watching whether China will send in the military to quell the protests, as it did a generation ago in the bloody Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing.
The meeting was one of a number of"closed-door sessions" that Mrs Lam said she has been doing"with people from all walks of life" in Hong Kong. Mr Xi is also grappling with an escalating strategic rivalry with the United States and a slowing economy. Tensions have risen as the world's two biggest economies are embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade war.
Asked about the report, China's Foreign Ministry said that the central government"supports, respects and understands" Mrs Lam's decision to suspend the Bill. But she said China was"willing to play long" to ride out the unrest, even if it meant economic pain for the city, including a drop in tourism and losing out on capital inflows such as initial public offerings.
If she were to appear in public, she said,"you could expect a big crowd of black T-shirts and black-masked young people waiting for me."After enjoying relatively high popularity in the initial part of her tenure, Mrs Lam is now the least popular of any of the four leaders who have run Hong Kong since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, according to veteran pollster Robert Chung, who runs the Public Opinion Research Institute.
According to a biography on the Hong Kong government website, Mrs Lam, a devout Catholic, attended St Francis' Canossian College. Critics say the bridge could further weaken Hong Kong's autonomy by deepening its physical links with southern China.
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