Beijing Should Let CE Do Her Job: Anson Chan

Former Chief Secretary Anson Chan warned on Tuesday that the Carrie Lam Administration needs more than expressions of support from Beijing to resolve the protests as they enter their fifth month, and told it to stand back and let her lead.

Chan was speaking one day after President Xi Jinping gave his backing to embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam, saying the central government had a high degree of trust in Lam and fully acknowledged the work of her administration.

Xi said there should be dialogue with all sectors of society and that livelihoods should be improved.

But the former Chief Secretary said the view of the public is that Lam appears unable and unwilling to exercise the strong moral leadership that's required to end the unrest.

"It's one thing for central government to profess strong support for the Chief Executive, but what about the people here that she's governing? If the Chief Executive

sees the need to act in a certain way, will she be given latitude? I think that is more important," Chan told RTHK.

"Until and unless there is some movement on the part of the government I fear that the protests will continue and we must all be extremely concerned at the escalating violence, both on the part of the protesters and on the part of the police," she said.

Responding to last week's announcement that the central government were prepared to change that way it administers Hong Kong, Chan called on the central government to "widen their source of communication and information, and truly attempt to feel the pulse of the community - particularly the sentiments of our younger generation".

She also called on Beijing to let the Chief Executive get on with the job "without interference from central government or from the Liaison Office here".