Sound of Hong Kong's defiance reverberates in Beijing
Beijing’s public support for Hong Kong leader likely hides private fury, but letting her go would be another humiliation
The most obvious casualty of Hong Kong’s extraordinary uprising against chief executive, Carrie Lam, and her campaign to tie the city more closely to China, will be the bureaucrat-turned-politician’s own career. If she stays on, it will only be as a lame duck leader.
But the city’s turmoil is also a major challenge to her boss and patron, Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
Lam has been at pains to paint herself as an independent actor in the crisis, and as it unfurled on its expressions of support for her. But neither of those positions are entirely honest.
