Hong Kong protests: Carrie Lam insists she never offered to resign, denies Beijing is stopping her from quitting

City leader says it is her decision to remain in post so she can tackle protest crisis

In leaked recording, chief executive appears to tell closed-door meeting she would step down if she had the choice

Tony Cheung  

Published: 10:51am, 3 Sep, 2019

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025440/hong-kong-protests-carrie-lam-insists-she-has-never-offered?utm

Hong Kong’s embattled leader made it clear on Tuesday that she had never offered to resign over the political crisis and social unrest she sparked with her now-abandoned extradition bill, rejecting suggestions that Beijing was stopping her from quitting.

“I have never tendered a resignation to the central people’s government. I have not even contemplated to discuss a resignation with the central people’s government,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said. “The choice of not resigning is my own choice.”

She was speaking a day after an audio recording leaked to Reuters suggested she had said in a closed-door meeting that she would step down, given the choice, for bringing “unforgivable havoc” to the city.

Hong Kong has been gripped by mass protests which have regularly turned violent and spread chaos across the city since June. Anti-government demonstrations have run for 13 consecutive weekends, and frequent clashes with police have led to 1,140 protesters being arrested so far.

Lam said she had been trying to explain in the leaked recording that resigning might be an easy option for her personally.

“But I told myself repeatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong in a very difficult situation, and to serve the people of Hong Kong,” she said.

“I have not given myself the choice to take an easier path and that is to leave. I’d rather stay on and walk this path together with my team and with the people of Hong Kong.”

Defiant Hong Kong students go on strike, ignoring top officials’ warnings

Asked if the government had deliberately leaked the recording in a bid to shift the blame onto Beijing, Lam replied that she was refuting the suggestion in “very clear and strong terms”.

“I was and still am very disappointed that my remarks in a totally private, exclusive session, which was a lunch actually, which clearly was subject to Chatham House rules, had been recorded and then passed to the media. I think this is quite unacceptable,” she said.

“So to further suggest or allege that myself or the government have any role to play in this thing is absolutely unfounded.”

Lam also dismissed suggestions by critics that the city had lost its “high degree of autonomy” as Beijing had compromised the “one country, two systems” principle by exerting pressure on the Hong Kong government not to give in to protesters’ demands.

“In our work to stop violence, we have insisted on one country, two systems, as all residents will not want us to deviate from the principle in handling these difficulties,” she said.

“The central government has also been insisting on the one country, two systems principle. Beijing still believes that the city’s government is capable of handling this difficult [situation] … so there is no issue of the loss of one country, two systems or the high degree of autonomy.”

Asked if she was considering invoking the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, as some reports had suggested, Lam reiterated that it was her government’s responsibility to consider the use of different laws to deal with the crisis in Hong Kong.

“If violence is diminishing or disappearing, we don’t need to consider using these ordinances any more,” she said.

‘All laws’, including emergency powers, on the table for Hong Kong leader

The ordinance, if invoked, would give the chief executive sweeping powers to make any emergency regulations she considered “desirable in the public interest”.

Lam said her government would continue to engage different sectors, and organise more closed-door discussions in the near future.

On Sunday, anti-government protesters brought chaos and vandalism to Hong Kong International Airport again, blocking access routes, forcing travellers to walk part of the way, crippling MTR train services and prompting a shutdown of the Tung Chung line by trashing the station.

Mass arrests of Hong Kong protesters ‘could radicalise’ peaceful marchers

Lam apologised to the travellers affected, and thanked MTR and airport staff, as well as civil servants for “taking extra steps” in helping to resume transport services and social order.

Anti-government anger sparked by the bill, which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to jurisdictions including mainland China, has fuelled months of protests in Hong Kong.

Demonstrators have five main demands for Lam, including formally withdrawing the bill, establishing an inquiry to investigate police conduct and restarting the city’s stalled political reform process.