Restoring HK From Chaos An Urgent Priority, Says Lam

Chief Executive Carrie Lam declared on Wednesday that restoring Hong Kong's constitutional order and political system from chaos is one of her "urgent priorities", saying the city had experienced its most severe political challenges since 1997 in the past year.

In her fourth Policy Address, Lam spoke of the unprecedented challenges faced by her administration – from the anti-government protests of 2019 stemming from opposition to a controversial extradition bill to the health and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"While the HKSAR has been established for over 23 years, from time to time there are still divergent views on the basic issues pertaining to the political system," she said.

"Some issues are politically manipulated due to the society's inadequate understanding of the Constitution and the Basic Law and the fact that some people's awareness of the 'One Country' principle has yet to be enhanced."

The Chief Executive added that some "ill-intentioned people influenced by external forces" have made use of Hong Kong's relatively complicated social and political situation to deliberately mislead people about the relationship between Hong Kong and the central authorities.

Lam then laid out the powers and duties of the Chief Executive under the Basic Law, saying this demonstrated the SAR's adherence to an "executive-led structure".

"There is no conflict between an executive-led system and an independent Judiciary, since one of the Chief Executive's duties is to uphold judicial independence which is protected under the Basic Law," Lam said.

The Chief Executive also said her administration plans to introduce a bill within this year to change local laws regarding oath-taking for public officers, with new legal consequences for those who breach the oath.

Lam said this will be done to make sure Hong Kong's laws are in line with a recent NPC Standing Committee resolution that led to the expulsion of four pan-democratic lawmakers, as well as Beijing’s decisions on oath-taking and the new national security law.

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