Coronavirus: Hong Kong leader’s daily press briefings may undermine credibility if she fails to deliver results, analysts say
- Observers say Carrie Lam’s move may cause public to question if actual anti-epidemic work is being neglected or whether she intends to garner support for second term
- But Executive Council member Ronny Tong says daily briefings can prevent confusing and wrong messages from circulating in community
Since March 9, Lam has taken the helm as “commander-in-chief” of the battle against the Omicron-fuelled outbreak, declaring she would continue to host a daily press briefing on anti-epidemic work “until the city wins the battle”.
The move came after calls by state leader Han Zheng for stronger and more decisive leadership in the health crisis and signalled an expansion of Lam’s role in communicating pandemic-related messages to the public.
The chief executive said her aim was to shoulder the responsibility of explaining the latest developments to residents and clarifying rumours on a daily basis, adding the sooner she faded from the public eye, the earlier the city could “resume normal life”.
Lam resumed her daily press conference again on Wednesday after skipping her regular coronavirus briefing the day before to attend an Executive Council meeting.
While some analysts praised Lam for showing strong commitment to taming the raging fifth wave of infections, others warned the move might backfire and further weaken her credibility if she failed to deliver actual results in a short period of time.
“Lam doesn’t need to come out every day. She faces the risk of being put on the defensive and losing her credibility if she continues to make unfulfilled promises,” said Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of semi-official think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies. He was referring to Lam’s U-turn on universal testing to focus on “reducing deaths, severe cases and infections”.
