Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, plans to delay efforts to pass a controversial new extradition law, local media reported, as US presidential hopeful Joe Biden praised protesters and warned that the “world is watching”.
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| People hold up smartphone lights and posters during a ‘mothers protest’ in Hong Kong against alleged police brutality and the proposed extradition treaty. |
Media outlets, including the South China Morning Post, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong and pro-Beijing Sing Tao newspaper, reported that Lam will hold a press conference to announce her plans on Saturday afternoon.
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They suggest that she plans only to delay the law, rather than shelve it entirely, probably in the hope that time and further consultations will defuse the power of opposition. With the legislature due to go on summer recess in July, it would not be picked up again for several months.
Even a delay to the law would be a major climbdown. Lam has not spoken publicly since Wednesday evening, when she doubled down in defence of the extradition bill and criticised protesters who had endured a day of tear gas, rubber bullets and police beatings as “spoiled children”.
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| Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam |
Opponents of the law say it would fatally undermine Hong Kong’s economy and way of life by allowing both residents and visitors to be sent to China for trial in opaque courts controlled by the Communist party.
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| People attend a Hong Kong rally in support of demonstrators protesting against proposed extradition bill with China |
On Friday night Biden paid tribute on Twitter to the “extraordinary bravery” of protesters. “The world is watching. All of us must stand in support of democratic principles and freedom.”
But with another major protest planned for Sunday, and huge international interest in the confrontation on Hong Kong’s streets, Lam and officials in Beijing appear to have decided the political cost of temporary retreat would be less than that of further confrontation.
Lam met one of China’s most senior politicians, Han Zheng, in the border city of Shenzhen on Friday night to discuss the situation, the pro-Beijing Sing Tao reported. Zheng is the central government’s point man on Hong Kong, a vice-premier and one of just seven members of the elite politburo standing committee.
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