The Hong Kong authorities’s priority is to “restore the political system from chaos,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam stated on Wednesday in her annual coverage deal with, which didn’t ship blockbuster steps to spice up the economic system or ease a housing disaster.
Lam’s prolonged deal with to the semi-autonomous metropolis’s legislature was delayed by greater than a month to accommodate her high-profile journey to Beijing for talks on how China can assist with the finance hub’s financial restoration.
But after briefly mentioning the town will contribute to efforts in the direction of additional integration of the Greater Bay space, a area that features Hong Kong, Macau and 9 cities in China’s Guangdong province, she spent a big a part of her deal with on the necessity to restore order and shield China’s nationwide safety.
The central authorities’s position within the former British colony has been within the highlight, particularly with the imposition in June of a safety regulation after months of pro-democracy protests — essentially the most intense in many years — final 12 months.
“In the previous 12 months or so, Hong Kong has skilled essentially the most extreme political challenges since its return to the motherland,” Lam stated. “One of our pressing priorities is to revive … constitutional order and political system from chaos.”
She accused international governments and legislatures of accelerating interference in Hong Kong’s affairs, which she stated have been China’s inner affairs, and that their actions have been jeopardizing nationwide safety.
Develop ‘ethical growth’ of youth
Lam stated the federal government will introduce a invoice to “improve oath-taking” by civil servants and conduct widespread public schooling “to boost the understanding of the rule of regulation.”
The authorities will launch packages to teach Hong Kong’s youth, who have been on the frontlines of final 12 months’s demonstrations, about respecting China’s nationwide flag and its anthem.
Lam spoke at size about prioritizing “ethical growth” of youth and strengthening “their sense of nationwide id and consciousness of nationwide safety.”
Last 12 months’s protests have been triggered partially by fears in Hong Kong that the central authorities was whittling away the freedoms granted when the town returned to Chinese rule in 1997 below a “one nation, two programs” formulation.
Lam, the town’s least widespread leader because the handover, offered her annual coverage deal with by way of video final 12 months after some opposition lawmakers disrupted the legislative session, jeering as she began her speech.
She didn’t face any opposition this 12 months, after pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse after 4 of their colleagues have been disqualified after China’s parliament gave metropolis authorities powers to oust lawmakers with out courtroom scrutiny.
The protests and later the novel Corona Virus pandemic have battered the town’s economic system, with full 12 months gross home product (GDP) forecast to contract 6.1 per cent.
