Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday she has never actually considered resigning over the protests that have roiled the city over the summer, clarifying leaked comments she made last week to business leaders. In a 24-minute recording of her speech, obtained by Reuters and released Monday, Lam said that "for a chief executive to have caused this huge havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable. It’s just unforgivable. If I have a choice, the first thing is to quit, having made a deep apology, is to step down."
Lam did not dispute the authenticity of the leaked recording, saying only that it's "totally unacceptable" someone secretly recorded her private comments. But she did tell reporters Tuesday that quitting was "an easy path" she won't take. "I have never tendered a resignation to the central people's government. I have not even contemplated to discuss a resignation," Lam said, adding that "the choice of not resigning was my own choice," not Beijing's.
In her leaked comments, Lam also said Beijing isn't preparing to send in the army to quell Hong Kong's persistent protests, but her own ability to defuse the protests is constrained by the central government now viewing the situation as a national sovereignty and security issue, especially amid the trade war with the U.S. In such a situation, she said, "the political room for the chief executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution — that is, the central people's government and the people of Hong Kong — that political room for maneuvering is very, very, very limited." Read the entire transcript at Reuters.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for October 26Cartoons Sunday’s editorial cartoons include Young Republicans group chat, Louvre robbery, and more
-
Why Britain is struggling to stop the ransomware cyberattacksThe Explainer New business models have greatly lowered barriers to entry for criminal hackers
-
Greene’s rebellion: a Maga hardliner turns against TrumpIn the Spotlight The Georgia congresswoman’s independent streak has ‘not gone unnoticed’ by the president
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
