Hong Kong's Lam Gives Defense of Security Law in Policy Speech - Bloomberg

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam began the final policy address of her current term with a broad defense of the national security law imposed by China, saying it had ended chaos and brought stability and better governance to the financial hub.

Lam’s speech to the Legislative Council on Wednesday comes during a tumultuous term that saw huge anti-government protests, widespread international criticism about the national security law, and the Covid-19 pandemic that worsened a recession and led to unprecedented border controls in the top Asian financial hub.

For more on Lam’s speech, follow our TopLive blog here.

Hong Kong “has got back on the right track of One Country, Two Systems,” and “governance has returned to normal under the protection of the national security law and the principle of patriots administering Hong Kong,” Lam said in her opening remarks.

Beijing has exerted increasing control over the former British colony, pushing for its greater integration with nearby mainland cities, and has repeatedly demanded reforms to the world’s least-affordable housing market -- a social ill seen as a catalyst for the 2019 unrest. Lam hasn’t said whether she’ll run again after her five-year term expires in June.

Local media has speculated that Lam may introduce several policies addressing the housing shortage in her speech. These include plans to develop land in the city’s northern reaches to build as many as 500,000 units of mostly public housing, as well as steps to boost land supply and a new rail project.

Mainland officials have made repeated requests in recent months for action on Hong Kong’s housing crisis. Last week, Luo Huining, the head of China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, called on officials to “intensify efforts to solve the housing problem.”

source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-06/hong-kong-s-lam-gives-defense-of-security-law-in-policy-speech

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