Reuters exclusively obtained audio from a meeting between Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and a group of businesspeople.
Here are excerpts of what she said.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:
“I don’t want to spend your time, or waste your time, for you to ask me what went wrong, and why it went wrong. But for a chief executive to have caused this huge havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable. It’s just unforgivable. If I have a choice, the first thing (I would do) is to quit, having made a deep apology is to step down. So I make a plea to you for your forgiveness.”
Lam says China has “no plan” to deploy the army in Hong Kong.
China is approaching its October 1 National Day. The anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:
“I’ll be very honest with you, it would be very na�ve of me to paint you a rosy picture, that things will be fine or I have a deadline. But I can assure you that Beijing does not have a deadline. They know this will ripple on. So we have made special arrangements and there will be a first of October national day celebrations but still having a lot of disruptions, so we are going for a modest, but solemn type of celebrations on the first of October which means that they (Beijing) and ourselves have no expectations that we could clear out this thing before the first of October. Another thing I want to assure you, that is my own feeling the pulse and through discussions, CPG has absolutely no plan to send in the PLA.”
Lam says her powers are “limited”.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:
“But of course I’m sure that in your hearts you will feel, and I’m sure a large number of people feel that I do have a solution, that is a political one. But I have to tell you that this is where the crux of the matter lies. Once an issue has been elevated to a national level, to a sort of sovereignty and security level, let alone in the midst of this sort of unprecedented tension between the two big economies in the world. The room, the political room for the chief executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution, that is the central people’s government and the people of HK, that political room for maneuvering is very, very, very limited.”
Lam also shed light on Beijing’s “agenda”.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:
“They care about the country’s international profile. It has taken China a long time to build up to that sort of international profile and to have some say, not only being a big economy but a responsible big economy, so to forsake all those positive developments is clearly not on their agenda. But they’re willing to play long, they are willing to play long, so you have no short term solution, Hong Kong suffers, you lose tourism, economy, you lose your IPOs and so, but you can’t do much about it but after everything has been settled the country will be there to help with maybe positive measures especially in the Greater Bay Area.”
Lam reflects on the personal toll of the crisis.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:
“Nowadays it’s extremely difficult for me to go out. (pauses) I have not been on the streets, not in shopping malls, can’t go to a hair salon, can’t do anything because my whereabouts will be spread around the social media, on telegram and LIHKG, and you could expect a big crowd of black T-shirts and black masked young people waiting for me.”
Responding to Reuters, a spokesman for Lam said she attended two events last week that included businesspeople, and that both were effectively private.
“We are therefore not in a position to comment on what the Chief Executive has said at those events,” the spokesman said.
