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The hopeless situation of Carrie Lam fronting the CCP and having to execute its policy, is what drove Hong Kong into the people's revolution of 2019. Under the

The hopeless situation of Carrie Lam fronting the CCP and having to execute its policy, is what drove Hong Kong into the people's revolution of 2019. Under the CCP, local administrators do not need ideas, just obedience. Carrie Lam's misfortune was to be sandwiched between the increasing paranoia of Xi Jin Ping, and the increasing rebelliousness of HKers, and she has no strategy to resolve the two forces. Except she could have chosen to take the HKer's side. She is after all a HK citizen and its representative even without true election. Seven million rebels can parallelize a city, but pissing off a few thousand bureaucrats in the politburo simply leads to tantrums and rhetorics. If she had done that, HK's economy would not have stalled, HKers would rally behind her, and the whole Two System debate could be channelled into a consultation process that can remain civil and reasonable. HKers will not forgive her for her missteps and police brutality that led to thousands of arrested and hundreds of maimed/injured/raped/dead. That will always be her legacy. But HKers can thank her incompetence for triggering the nationalistic feeling of a Hongkonger. The city of immigrants and world refugees has never been so clearly in sync, and the common enemy so in focus.

navaati 7y ago
> Except she could have chosen to take the HKer's side. Could she ? Wouldn’t she have been "disappeared" as well as her family ? Not trying to excuse anything of course, she chose her side a long time ago, but still…
- jacobush 7y ago
  I also believe this. She could only have said something somewhat safely from exile.
  - treden 7y ago
    An important aspect of leadership is the courage to do the right thing, even at risk to one's own personal comfort and safety. In light of facts, you could make the argument that either she doesn't believe in the importance of sovereignty for her fellow citizens, or she doesn't have the courage to speak up for it.
    - jacobush 7y ago
      Absolutely.
- idlewords 7y ago
  No, she would not have been disappeared. Hong Kong is not a society where senior public figures and family members are purged for stepping out of line. But let's say you believe that dark scenario. In that case, even small gestures, like visiting a school or hospital, or not calling protesters "enemies of the people", would have been a sign of sympathy.
  - ajdlinux 7y ago
    I can't imagine Beijing even trying to purge a sympathetic HK official lest the public reaction render the city completely ungovernable.
  - fieryscribe 7y ago
    She chose to visit injured police officers and broken Octopus machines (turnstiles in the local metro) instead of victims of police brutality. She did visit the local mosque to apologize when the police blasted it with tainted water, after she was called out on it. She did not visit nor apologize to local churchs which experienced worse behavior. She simply refuses to learn what Hong Kongers truly think of her. The district elections were a stinging rebuke to her administration, yet she believes that she is right. We Hong Kongers will remember her and her cronies forever, in the same way we remember the June 4th crackdown.
  - philwelch 7y ago
    > Hong Kong is not a society where senior public figures and family members are purged for stepping out of line. China is, and Hong Kong is part of China. This is the root of the entire problem.
- ethbro 7y ago
  The article's conclusion of sheer incompetence fits better. If she decided to "make Beijing happy", then what's the endgame? She thought this was going to end well? And she was going to get rewarded by the CCP?
smhost 7y ago
Hong Kong isn't a people's revolution. There are contradicting forces operating within the protesters, and if they succeed (which of course I hope they do), the people will soon realize that they've swapped out one master for another.
- extra88 7y ago
  Don’t be such a tease, who would this other master be? Any large movement has divisions within it with different priorities.
  - treden 7y ago
    And what other master is comparable (in demonstrated authoritarianism, number of tanks, willingness to roll said tanks, etc...) to the Chinese communist party?
- devocracy 7y ago
  It sure would be "unfortunate" if they replaced autocratic rule with a representative democracy.
- fieryscribe 7y ago
  If you believe the CIA is behind this via Jimmy Lai and others, as many Mainlanders do, you should actually talk to some protestors. This is purely local.
nabla9 7y ago
> hopeless situation of Carrie Lam fronting the CCP and having to execute its policy Interesting part of the article is that it says different. Carrie Lam initiated the crisis on her own without instructions from Beijing.
- calcifer 7y ago
  > Carrie Lam initiated the crisis on her own without instructions from Beijing. Lam's own leaked statements say otherwise [1]. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025579/hong-kong-protests-read-full-transcript-carrie-lams-leaked https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025579...
  - nabla9 7y ago
    I find nothing in your source contradicting the article.
    - calcifer 7y ago
      You say Carrie Lam isn't fronting the CCP and executing their policy, but she says her options are "very, very, very limited": > “But, of course, I’m sure in your hearts you will feel, and I’m sure a large number of people feel that I do have a solution, that is a political one. But I have to tell you that this is where the crux of the matter lies." > “Once an issue has been elevated to the situation [name redacted], to a national level, to a sort of sovereignty and security level, let alone in the midst of this sort of unprecedented tension between the two big economies in the world. > “The room, the political room for the Chief Executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution, that is the central people’s government and the people of Hong Kong, that political room for manoeuvering is very, very, very limited." Assuming she was being honest (no reason not to, given this was a private meeting behind closed doors), if she has no political power of her own, how is she not executing CCP policy?
      - idlewords 7y ago
        She initiated the extradition bill, presumably with approval from Beijing, in response to a high-profile murder case that she thought would make it pass easily. I don't see how the comments you quote here contradict that. Also, I would take what Carrie Lam says here (and anywhere) with a grain of salt.

navaati 7y ago

> Except she could have chosen to take the HKer's side. Could she ? Wouldn’t she have been "disappeared" as well as her family ? Not trying to excuse anything of course, she chose her side a long time ago, but still…

jacobush 7y ago
I also believe this. She could only have said something somewhat safely from exile.
- treden 7y ago
  An important aspect of leadership is the courage to do the right thing, even at risk to one's own personal comfort and safety. In light of facts, you could make the argument that either she doesn't believe in the importance of sovereignty for her fellow citizens, or she doesn't have the courage to speak up for it.
  - jacobush 7y ago
    Absolutely.
idlewords 7y ago
No, she would not have been disappeared. Hong Kong is not a society where senior public figures and family members are purged for stepping out of line. But let's say you believe that dark scenario. In that case, even small gestures, like visiting a school or hospital, or not calling protesters "enemies of the people", would have been a sign of sympathy.
- ajdlinux 7y ago
  I can't imagine Beijing even trying to purge a sympathetic HK official lest the public reaction render the city completely ungovernable.
- fieryscribe 7y ago
  She chose to visit injured police officers and broken Octopus machines (turnstiles in the local metro) instead of victims of police brutality. She did visit the local mosque to apologize when the police blasted it with tainted water, after she was called out on it. She did not visit nor apologize to local churchs which experienced worse behavior. She simply refuses to learn what Hong Kongers truly think of her. The district elections were a stinging rebuke to her administration, yet she believes that she is right. We Hong Kongers will remember her and her cronies forever, in the same way we remember the June 4th crackdown.
- philwelch 7y ago
  > Hong Kong is not a society where senior public figures and family members are purged for stepping out of line. China is, and Hong Kong is part of China. This is the root of the entire problem.
ethbro 7y ago
The article's conclusion of sheer incompetence fits better. If she decided to "make Beijing happy", then what's the endgame? She thought this was going to end well? And she was going to get rewarded by the CCP?

smhost 7y ago

Hong Kong isn't a people's revolution. There are contradicting forces operating within the protesters, and if they succeed (which of course I hope they do), the people will soon realize that they've swapped out one master for another.

extra88 7y ago
Don’t be such a tease, who would this other master be? Any large movement has divisions within it with different priorities.
- treden 7y ago
  And what other master is comparable (in demonstrated authoritarianism, number of tanks, willingness to roll said tanks, etc...) to the Chinese communist party?
devocracy 7y ago
It sure would be "unfortunate" if they replaced autocratic rule with a representative democracy.
fieryscribe 7y ago
If you believe the CIA is behind this via Jimmy Lai and others, as many Mainlanders do, you should actually talk to some protestors. This is purely local.

nabla9 7y ago

> hopeless situation of Carrie Lam fronting the CCP and having to execute its policy Interesting part of the article is that it says different. Carrie Lam initiated the crisis on her own without instructions from Beijing.

calcifer 7y ago
> Carrie Lam initiated the crisis on her own without instructions from Beijing. Lam's own leaked statements say otherwise [1]. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025579/hong-kong-protests-read-full-transcript-carrie-lams-leaked https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025579...
- nabla9 7y ago
  I find nothing in your source contradicting the article.
  - calcifer 7y ago
    You say Carrie Lam isn't fronting the CCP and executing their policy, but she says her options are "very, very, very limited": > “But, of course, I’m sure in your hearts you will feel, and I’m sure a large number of people feel that I do have a solution, that is a political one. But I have to tell you that this is where the crux of the matter lies." > “Once an issue has been elevated to the situation [name redacted], to a national level, to a sort of sovereignty and security level, let alone in the midst of this sort of unprecedented tension between the two big economies in the world. > “The room, the political room for the Chief Executive who, unfortunately, has to serve two masters by constitution, that is the central people’s government and the people of Hong Kong, that political room for manoeuvering is very, very, very limited." Assuming she was being honest (no reason not to, given this was a private meeting behind closed doors), if she has no political power of her own, how is she not executing CCP policy?
    - idlewords 7y ago
      She initiated the extradition bill, presumably with approval from Beijing, in response to a high-profile murder case that she thought would make it pass easily. I don't see how the comments you quote here contradict that. Also, I would take what Carrie Lam says here (and anywhere) with a grain of salt.