HongKong

Carrie Lam mounts Hong Kong charm offensive in Davos


Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam has set out a steely defence of her government’s actions towards protesters in a visit to the World Economic Forum at Davos that has been widely interpreted as a bid to win over the international community.

Nearly 30 delegates from Hong Kong are attending the annual event, at which world leaders and corporate titans rub shoulders and debate key trends.

Speaking to delegates on Wednesday, Ms Lam sought to convince her international audience that she faces a much more complex situation than a simple battle for democracy.

She tried to portray the actions of the authorities as restrained in handling the often violent protests, which started after her government tried to introduce a law that would have allowed extradition to China for the first time. Ms Lam added she resisted calls to announce a curfew or restrict press coverage and claimed 10,000 petrol bombs had either been hurled at the police or discovered on university campuses.

“While people focus on what has happened in Hong Kong, what has not happened in the last months is massive bloodshed on Hong Kong streets . . . A curfew has not happened. The gagging of the media has not happened,” she said.

Some commentators said Ms Lam’s statements risked further damaging the territory’s reputation rather than rebuilding it.

“The more she continues to trot out long discredited talking points, and then to do it at such a prominent forum, just makes the quality of Hong Kong’s governance look worse and worse in the eyes of the international community,” said Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong lawyer and political commentator.

The movement has plunged Hong Kong into its biggest political crisis in decades. The proposed extradition bill has now been withdrawn but the protesters’ demands have expanded to include calls for universal suffrage and an independent investigation into alleged police brutality.

Asked to rule out a Tiananmen Square-style deployment of Chinese troops on the streets of Hong Kong, Ms Lam said that all such predictions had been proved wrong. No troops would be deployed so long as the “one country, two systems” framework — which guaranteed the former British colony considerable autonomy for 50 years following the handover in 1997 while recognising China’s sovereignty — remained intact and sacrosanct, she added.

Ms Lam went on to suggest that many protesters appeared not to understand “one country, two systems”, citing as evidence the waving of US and UK flags at demonstrations and the formation of pro-independence groups.

Asked if she had considered resigning, Ms Lam said that “walking away” would be the easy option but would only create more confusion and uncertainty.



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