It is the government’s responsibility to find a way out of unrest that has rocked Hong Kong, embattled Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said yesterday as she began her first public dialogue event, an effort to assuage protesters ahead of the anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule in China on Tuesday next week.
“In the past three-plus months, no matter what stance you take, everyone is very heartbroken, upset or even angry. The entire unrest is caused by the government’s work in amending the extradition law,” Lam said at the town hall-style session, referring to a controversial bill that first triggered protests. “The government is shouldering the biggest responsibility for finding a way out.”
Lam acknowledged that many in the territory were worried about unrest over the coming weekend, which is to mark the fifth anniversary of 2014’s Occupy demonstrations — Hong Kong’s previous pro-democracy movement.
Photo: AFP
As she spoke, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the venue after earlier calls for people to form a human chain, chanting: “Five demands, not one less.”
Lam earlier this week urged demonstrators not to disrupt the forum.
She was joined by four influential ministers: Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip (聶德權), Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau (邱騰華), Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah (劉江華) and Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan (陳肇始).
Photo: EPA-EFE
Members of the public attending the two-hour session at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in the Wanchai neighborhood were to be chosen to speak by a random lottery, the government had said earlier.
The event was moderated by Kenneth Ng, a political assistant to Nip and former news anchor for local station Television Broadcasts, who said in opening remarks that about 130 people were registered to enter the venue and that officials would give an “integrated” response every six questions.
Lam has seemed prepared for the public anger that would likely be directed at her during the forum.
“No doubt, I will receive some harsh criticism. But I also hope to receive constructive suggestions to help this government meet the public’s expectations for a more inclusive and fairer Hong Kong,” she wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece in the New York Times.
“I hear many people asked whether these dialogues are just a political show,” Lam said as the forum began. “These opinions I totally understand. The past days have led to a big drop of trust over the SAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] government and myself. People also doubt whether there’s environment for dialogue. No matter how difficult it is, my colleagues and I all think this direct dialogue should commence now.”
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS