Is Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam distancing herself from Beijing with resignation remarks in closed-door meeting?

Analyst says leaked audio recording shows chief executive is already desperate, and harsher measures from central government are in the pipeline

Government source plays down incident, insisting that Lam is choosing to stay on out of her own responsibility to Hong Kong

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has found herself having to explain a leaked recording of a speech made behind closed doors. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 10:00am, 4 Sep 2019Updated: 2:35pm, 4 Sep 2019

A grim-faced Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was prepared for a grilling by the media on Tuesday over a leaked audio recording from a closed-door meeting suggesting she would quit, given the choice, over the protest crisis plaguing Hong Kong.

The city’s embattled chief executive said she had never offered to resign and denied that Beijing was stopping her from doing so.

She also rejected speculation “in very clear and strong terms” that it was herself or someone from her administration who purposely leaked the recording to the media in a bid to shift the blame to Beijing.

However, her clarification apparently failed to dispel speculation that she was distancing herself from Beijing by telling a group of businesspeople at a private gathering that she had little choice, given that the massive backlash against her now-abandoned extradition bill had been elevated “to a national level” and “to a sort of sovereignty and security level”.

She was heard in the recording saying that “if I have a choice, the first thing is to quit” for causing “unforgivable havoc” to the city.

Protesters have vented their anger against the police force in escalating violence. Photo: Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai

Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung suggested Lam wanted to distance herself from the possibility of harsher measures in the pipeline to quell the ongoing anti-government protests.