In HK, China insists, the chief executive is more equal

EVER since Carrie Lam became chief executive of Hong Kong on July 1, 2017, she has had virtually absolute support from the Chinese government, including President Xi Jinping himself. This isn't surprising, since she was Beijing's hand-picked candidate. In the intervening 20 or so months, Beijing has offered fulsome praise of Mrs Lam's governance of the former British colony, now known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The chief executive has avoided sensitive issues and focused on livelihood problems, bringing about a lowering of the political temperature.

Ironically, Beijing is now proving a problem for Mrs Lam in her attempt to keep a major campaign promise: to legislate so that her office - that of chief executive - woul…