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Carrie Lam is HK’s first female Chief Exec, but she faces a tough task ahead

HONG KONG — Mrs Carrie Lam, a Hong Kong career civil servant backed by China, was picked as the city’s next Chief Executive by a Beijing-dominated committee on Sunday (March 26), presaging further tensions between the semi-autonomous territory and the Chinese government.

Carrie Lam (right) declares her victory in the chief executive election of Hong Kong. Next to her is former Financial Secretary John Tsang, another contender for the job. Photo: AP

Carrie Lam (right) declares her victory in the chief executive election of Hong Kong. Next to her is former Financial Secretary John Tsang, another contender for the job. Photo: AP

HONG KONG — Mrs Carrie Lam, a Hong Kong career civil servant backed by China, was picked as the city’s next Chief Executive by a Beijing-dominated committee on Sunday (March 26), presaging further tensions between the semi-autonomous territory and the Chinese government. 

Mrs Lam, 59, received 777 of the 1,163 votes cast by an electoral college of businessmen, professionals and politicians that selects leaders for the former British colony.

Her win was marred by pro-democracy protests at the convention centre where the voting took place and Mrs Lam immediately pledged to mend political rifts.

“Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness,” Mrs Lam said in her victory speech. 

“My priority will be to heal the divide and to ease the frustration, and to unite our society to move forward.”

Surrounded by her supporters and flanked by her husband, Professor Lam Siu-por and son, Jeremy, she pledged to uphold Hong Kong’s autonomy and protect its core values, including freedom of expression and an independent judiciary.

Asked how she would address concerns Beijing is tightening its grip, she said there was “no difference” between the Hong Kong government and Chinese authorities’ views on safeguarding the city’s status and liberties.

“Hong Kong needs new thinking,” she said adding that she would not immediately revive attempts to revamp the electoral system, a potential political flashpoint that could rekindle protests by pro-democracy supporters. 

She said she wanted to focus on other more pressing issues such as housing, education and health care.

“There is a serious divide in Hong Kong, so why don’t we start with the easier subjects and try to reach consensus’’ on how to tackle them, she said.

Her chief rival, ex-Financial Secretary John Tsang, 65, got 365 votes or 31 per cent, despite greater popularity among the general public and support from the committee’s pro-democracy bloc. A third candidate, retired judge Woo Kwok-hing, received 21 votes.

There were several invalid protest ballots including one that carried an obscenity.

The result will make Mrs Lam the city’s first female leader when her five-year term begins on July 1. 

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, under China’s State Council, said that Mrs Lam met the standards of “loving the country and Hong Kong, being trusted by the central government, being capable of governing and enjoying the support of the people,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing an agency spokesperson. 

It added that she should not disappoint the people and should seek to “comprehensively unite all sectors of society”, strengthen development, and “work hard to forge a new situation”.

Analysts said Mrs Lam’s definitive win showed public opinion was not a major factor for Beijing. 

“Loyalty trumps everything else,” said Willy Lam, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mrs Lam’s primary tasks will be quelling unease over Beijing’s perceived encroachment on Hong Kong’s affairs, and bolstering an economy vulnerable to China’s slowdown and United States interest-rate increases. 

Her popularity has suffered amid weeks of media reports about Chinese officials working to quash opposition to her on the loyalist-dominated election committee. Mrs Lam trailed Mr Tsang 29.5 per cent to 46.6 per cent in a poll of 1,009 adults published on March 16 by the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Mr Tsang likened his defeat to waking up from a dream, but said there was no evidence Beijing had influenced the result. 

“This campaign changed me, and I’m sure it also changed her,” said Mr Tsang, who congratulated Mrs Lam and called on the city to unite around her. “I ask that you all give her a chance and your support.”

Mrs Lam led the failed effort to overhaul the city’s election process according to Beijing’s wishes, which prompted the so-called Umbrella Movement protests that shut down parts of the city for months in 2014.

“When the No 2 official becomes the No. 1, there isn’t going to be much change,” said Mr Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of those protests. 

“‘One country, two systems’ is going down the drain, and our high degree of autonomy will exist in name only,” Mr Wong said.

Since the Umbrella Movement protests, young people in particular have become even more resentful of the Chinese government, calling in growing numbers for Hong Kong’s self-determination and even independence from China. 

In the first major legislative elections after the protests, voters turned out in record number and elected for the first time two young, openly pro-independence politicians.

But in November, Beijing took the extraordinary step of intervening in a Hong Kong court case to prevent them from taking their seats, after they pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” during their swearing-in ceremony and inserted an anti-China snub into their oaths of office.

Fears of increasing interference from Beijing were also worsened when a bookseller and, later, a billionaire businessman disappeared from Hong Kong, later to re-emerge in police custody in mainland China.

Such developments have alarmed many residents, but others are loyal to China and regard pro-democracy activists as a disruptive force.

Many, including opposition democrats, fear Mrs Lam will stick to the tough policies of staunchly pro-Beijing Mr Leung.

“She doesn’t have a strong foundation, nor will she have a honeymoon after she’s elected,” said political scientist Ivan Choy. “But whether she will further divide society we still have to wait and see what she does, whether she will continue the approach of Leung.”

Mrs Lam’s inauguration ceremony will take place on the 20th anniversary of the handover, giving her an immediate test for handling a politically sensitive occasion.

President Xi Jinping may attend the event, which is accompanied by an annual pro-democracy march, in what would be his first visit to Hong Kong since taking power in 2012. The Post reported on March 6 that the commander-in-chief might also review a military parade while in town.

Mrs Lam has promised a more accommodating approach after the mass protests and legislative gridlock that marked Mr Leung’s tenure. 

“I always say she’s more pragmatic,” Mr Lui Che-woo, the billionaire founder of Galaxy Entertainment Group, told reporters before voting. “She has a practical and realistic style. Hong Kong must rely on this kind of people.” AGENCIES

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