My Take | Carrie Lam is becoming Hong Kong’s most hardline leader
- However, her use of existing legislation to prosecute anti-government protest leaders and a proposed national anthem law may not have gone far enough for Beijing
When former chief executive Leung Chun-ying was in power, you could often hear some old Hong Kong hands trying to comfort themselves by saying that at least he had decent people like Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor around him to serve as a moderating influence.
Now that Lam has become the city’s leader, the same public venom once directed at Leung is aimed at her. One reason for the growing public animosity is that Lam has lately decided to go the hardline route that matches or even exceeds that of her predecessor.
When Leung took on the Foreign Correspondents’ Club for inviting secessionist Andy Chan Ho-tin to give a talk and even called on the government to consider cancelling its lease, Lam and other officials originally sounded conciliatory.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the government had a long and fruitful working relationship with the club and expected it to continue. Well, not any more. Lam has reportedly declined an invitation to attend its annual reception party.
Carrie Lam declines invitation to FCC annual reception
Her government has since kicked Victor Mallet, an FCC representative, out of the city and effectively declared him persona non grata.