China stands by Hong Kong leader after days of street protests

HONG KONG (Reuters): China doubled down on its support for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam yesterday after days of protests in the Chinese-ruled city over a planned extradition bill, and a source close to Lam said Beijing was unlikely to let her go even if she tried to resign.

Lam’s attempts to pass a bill that would allow people in Hong Kong to be extradited to China to stand trial triggered the biggest and most violent protests in the former British colony in decades.

As the political crisis entered its second week, demonstrators and opposition politicians braved intermittent rain to gather near the Government’s offices and call for the bill to be killed and for her to step down.

The upheaval comes at a delicate time for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is grappling with a deepening US trade war, an ebbing economy and regional strategic tension.

Hong Kong has been governed under a ‘one country, two systems’ formula since its return to Beijing in 1997, allowing freedoms not granted to the mainland, including an independent judiciary, but short of a fully democratic vote.

Many residents are increasingly unnerved by Beijing’s tightening grip and what they see as the erosion of those freedoms, fearing that changes to the rule of law could imperil its status as a global financial centre.

“The Chinese Government, the central Government, has always fully affirmed the work of chief executive Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong Government,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference.

The comments echoed remarks over the weekend from the Government’s Hong Kong and Macau policy office.

“The central Government will continue to firmly support the chief executive and the SAR Government’s governing in accordance with the law,” he said, referring to the “special administrative region” of China.