Hong Kong’s comeback queen? Carrie Lam on leadership and legacy after 2019 protests

In a wide-ranging interview with Talking Post, chief executive maintains her administration is firmly in charge of running the city

Without confirming if she will seek another term, Lam says challenges brought by social unrest only made her stronger but criticism directed at her was ‘very painful’

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Hong Kong’s comeback queen? City leader Carrie Lam on Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

Chris Lau

Published: 10:15am, 27 Nov 2021Updated: 1:05pm, 28 Nov 2021

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor says her administration is firmly in charge of running the city, regardless of how hands-on Beijing’s representatives have become with local affairs under the national security law, and the mass protests of 2019 against her governance have effectively placed her in a stronger position to lead.

Lam has yet to confirm whether she will seek a second term next year, but in a wide-ranging interview on Talking Post with chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo, she spoke as a leader with plenty left to do rather than one counting down to the end of her tenure.

She dismissed concerns about Beijing directly running Hong Kong affairs through its increasingly active and vocal liaison office in the city as unwarranted.

A petrol bomb lands among riot police during a protest in Ngau Tau Kok on August 24, 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang

Lam advised against “reading too much” into the liaison office’s community outreach programmes, which have seen Beijing’s representatives call for greater local government efforts on various fronts.

“At the end of day, who is going to devise new policy initiatives and have them implemented in order to address those problems or meet those aspirations?” she said in rejecting any notion of her administration’s authority being undermined.

“So they’re not teaching your government how to do things? Setting an example for you?” Lam was asked.

Her reply: “No. I don’t think they could because Hong Kong is very unique and whatever works in the mainland of China, normally will not work in Hong Kong. So who is in the best position to make sure that policies could be implemented? It has to be the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] officials.”