Hong Kong leader predicts bright future for city and claims public trust in government has been rebuilt
Chief Executive Carrie Lam gives upbeat assessment of her first year in office at ceremony marking 21st anniversary of return to Chinese rule
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has predicted a bright future for the city under her guidance, while claiming public trust in the government has been rebuilt and rational discussion restored in the Legislative Council.
Speaking on Sunday as Hong Kong marked the 21st anniversary since Britain handed the city back to China, the chief executive gave an upbeat assessment of her first year in office, and painted a rosy picture of the future, as long as Hongkongers stood united behind her.
“After a year of leading the government to demonstrate a new style of governance, perform new roles and implement a new fiscal philosophy, I have greater confidence in Hong Kong,” she said at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai after the flag-raising ceremony.
“As long as we remain focused and stand united, I am sure that the best is yet to come for Hong Kong.”
Not far from the ceremony about 20 members from the League of Social Democrats, led by party leader “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, marched from Wan Chai to the Golden Bauhinia Square before the flag-raising.
Although police stopped them from entering the square, they chanted and held up placards calling for the “end of one-party dictatorship” and the release of Liu Xia, the wife of late Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who has called for sweeping political reforms in China.