HONG KONG: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam will unveil a closely watched State of the Union-style speech Wednesday (Oct 16) aimed at winning hearts and minds after four months of seething protests.
The address is an annual speech at the opening of the city's legislature where the pro-Beijing leader lays out policies and Bills for the year ahead.
Advertisement
Advertisement
But the speech comes after a summer of huge and increasingly violent protests as popular anger explodes over sliding freedoms and living standards in the financial hub following two decades of Chinese rule.
READ: China says US House should stop interfering in Hong Kong
READ: Hong Kong retail rents fall sharply in Q3
Police officers stand guard outside the Legislative Council Complex, in central Hong Kong, China Oct 15, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad)
Advertisement
Advertisement
There is huge pressure on Lam – who currently boasts historically low approval ratings – to unveil flagship measures that might lower some of the anger on the streets.
Citing government sources, local media reported that Lam will focus on housing shortages in a city that has one of the least affordable property markets in the world and notoriously high rents.
But major concessions to protesters are unlikely.
At a briefing on Tuesday, Lam stuck to her oft-repeated stance that bending to violent demonstrations would be unacceptable.
"For concessions to be made simply because of escalating violence will only make the situation worse. On the other hand, we should consider every means to end the violence," she said.
Among the core demands of protesters are an independent inquiry into the police, an amnesty for the more than 2,300 people arrested and the right for Hong Kongers to freely elect their leaders.
Both Lam and Beijing have repeatedly dismissed those demands.
Millions have taken to the streets of Hong Kong, initially against a now-dropped bid by its leaders to allow extraditions to the authoritarian Chinese mainland.
The months-long movement has expanded into a broader push in the territory where activists say freedoms are being eroded by Beijing, contrary to a deal that outlined Hong Kong's 1997 return to China from British colonial rule.
READ: US House passes legislation taking hard line on China over Hong Kong, Huawei
READ: Homemade bomb used for the first time during Hong Kong protests: Police
Riot police officers patrol during a protest at Tseung Kwan O district, in Hong Kong, China, Oct 13, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha)
Lam's speech comes after the US Read More – Source
