In her final address to the Legislative Council on Thursday, Carrie Lam, the current chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, urged the legislative and the executive authorities to improve relations based on the "one country, two systems," and to correctly understand the relations between the central government and the SAR in ensuring the "patriots governing Hong Kong.'' 

Lam said the anti-extradition bill movement in 2019 showed that good relations between the legislative and executive authorities should be based on "one country, two systems," if someone advocates for "Hong Kong independence" or endangers national security by using the LegCo to sabotage the relations between the central government and the SAR, or even colludes with foreign forces to attack the "one country, two systems," it will weigh on the local governance and even endanger national security. 

Lam made the remarks at the final Q&A session at the LegCo meeting on Thursday, which also summarized her work leading the local governance over the past five years during which the city encountered the most severe challenges since its return to the motherland in 1997. 

"Although the society has different evaluation of my work, but I do not have any regrets about my work, marking a complete end of my 42-year career as a civil servant," Lam told lawmakers. Now Hong Kong is back the correct track of carrying on the "one country, two systems," and we all share full expectation for its future, she said. 

During the past five years, Lam said she had not thought about resigning, and the support from the central government, her family and also her responsibilities helped  get her through difficult times. 

When she first made remarks at the LegCo in 2017, it was full of confrontation, finger-pointing conflicts and divisions, and she felt sad about it. The lack of trust between officials and lawmakers also slowed down the speed of rolling out policies, and anti-China figures who entered the governing structure through elections damaged the relations between the central government and the SAR, intending to subvert the power and endangering national security. 

We should completely change the relations between the legislative and executive authorities to ensure "only patriots governing Hong Kong,'' and under the consensus on the "one country, two systems," we need to discuss policies and be decisive to carry them out, she said. 

In responding to questions raised by some lawmakers, Lam made comments on issues such as increasing housing supply, attracting talents and carrying on the reforms on the civil servant system. She said currently, it's unlikely that we will see the border resumption between the city and the mainland in the near future amid COVID flares-ups based on the discussion with the mainland from September and December 2021. 

It's up to the next government to set up new discussions with the mainland to see if there is room for policy adjustment, Lam said. 

Global Times