Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she won't seek second term
The Hindu
“I will complete my five-year term as chief executive on the 30th of June this year and I will also call an end to my 42 years of public service,” Ms. Lam said
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on April 4 that she wouldn’t seek a second term after a rocky five years marked by huge protests calling for her resignation, a security crackdown that has quashed dissent and most recently a COVID-19 wave that overwhelmed the health system.
Her successor will be picked in May and the city's security chief during the 2019 protests is among the possible choices.
“I will complete my five-year term as chief executive on the 30th of June this year and I will also call an end to my 42 years of public service,” Ms. Lam said at a news conference. She thanks her team of local officials and the central authorities in Beijing and said she plans to spend more time with family, which is her “sole consideration.”
Speculation had swirled for months about whether she would seek another term, but she said that her decision had been conveyed to the central government in Beijing last year and was met with “respect and understanding.”
“Less than two years into my chief executive term, because of the anti-extradition Bill and because of interference from foreign forces and also the attack of COVID-19, I was under great pressure,” Ms. Lam said. “However, the motivation for me to press on was the very staunch support behind me by the central authorities.”
She presided over a period in which Beijing firmly established control over the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. For years, the city rocked back and forth between calls for more freedom and growing signs of China extending its reach into the city, even after Hong Kong was promised 50 years of freedom to govern itself semi-autonomously from the mainland.
Ms. Lam’s popularity sharply declined over her five-year term, particularly over legislation that would have allowed crime suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial and later over her leadership during the 2019 protests that saw violent clashes erupt between police and protesters.