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
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.