Carrie Lam Fractures Elbow

Lam's selfie with her right arm in a sling after her fall

This morning Hongkongers woke up to the news that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had fractured her right elbow from a fall on a flight of stairs at Government House last night ahead of a banquet with retired colleagues. She was rushed to Queen Mary Hospital in Pokfulam where she spent the night and was discharged this morning.

"At first I thought it was just an abrasion, but then my right arm became more painful and so I decided to seek treatment at Queen Mary Hospital after sending off the guests," she wrote in a social media post on Tuesday afternoon. "It's believed that it will take two or three weeks for recovery."

Lam was discharged from hospital this morning

She added in her post that she had a brain scan and additional check-ups while in hospital. Might as well, right, since Lam is so busy.

The accident was revealed shortly after midnight on Monday to announce she would follow the doctor's advice to stay overnight in the hospital for observation, and that the weekly Executive Council or Exco meeting, and media briefing on Tuesday morning would be cancelled. 

Lam said many of her friends told her the accident was a good opportunity for her to rest.

"I think it is a positive way of thinking as in fact, I have not taken any leave for three years already," she wrote. Well, most of us have not taken a break because of the coronavirus pandemic either. But Lam insists on getting the gold star for being extremely hard working.

Lee will take over as CE, but for how long?

She has proudly told the media before that she is a workaholic, and doesn't even have time to talk to her husband.

However, she admits she now finds it hard to get dressed and write. Who writes these days? And if she's resting for a few days or weeks, nothing wrong with wearing T-shirts and sweatpants like all of us did last year.

In the meantime Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu will be serving as acting chief executive but speculation is rife over how long it will be before Lam takes over the reins again.

Top National Security Officer Caught in Police Raid

Choi was caught in a raid on an unlicensed massage parlour

This morning news broke that the No. 2 officer in the National Security Department was caught in a raid on an unlicensed massage parlour and that he was placed on leave for a month while the incident was being investigated.

In other words, before anyone has been convicted under the national security law that was implemented last June, a top national security officer has already fallen from grace.

Tang admits scandal affected force's reputation

It was later reported that Senior Assistant Commissioner and Director of National Security Frederic Choi Chin-pang would resign, but earlier this evening Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung said Choi would not be involved in anymore security work, and claimed he did not receive any resignation.

Tang remained tight-lipped about details of the case, though he admitted the scandal would undoubtedly affect the reputation of the force, but that it would be business as usual for the department working on national security issues.

He denied withholding information about the incident, as it was leaked to the media, and Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei was not impressed, saying the force had covered up it up until the media broke the news.

And even though Tang pledged the force would be transparent and open with the matter, he refused to provide details of the matter, which Lo said evasiveness would not help build public trust in the police chief's vow.

Choi was honoured by Lam in February

Meanwhile a police monitoring group said the force must be left red-faced by the incident.

"This is embarrassing news for the police force given they are trying to regain public trust and improve their image," said Icarus Wong from Civil Rights Observer.

Choi joined the force in 1995 and was promoted to senior superintendent in 2014, then given the job of leading a Security Wing formation tasked with intelligence operations, investigation, analysis, and liaison. He was made senior assistant commissioner and director of the National Security Department in July.

He received the Hong Kong Police Medal for Distinguished Service from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last year.

Choi was among seven top officers honoured by Lam for their contributions to safeguarding national security at a ceremony at Government House in February.

The NSL was implemented in June last year

So now the police is investigating one of its own. Will it be objective and comprehensive? The public will not know for sure, but to have this incident confirmed by Tang is a black mark on the relatively new national security department.

Does this mean China has lost trust the local security department and take over?

It just takes one to screw it up, doesn't it?

 

HK's Chief Executive: All Work and No Play

Lam says she has no time to shop, but look at those Ferragamos

An English-language newspaper had an exclusive interview with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor today and she discussed a wide variety of topics, from any regrets for the extradition bill (no), to the current pandemic and how the government can control it, to where she keeps her cash (in a drawer upstairs in Government House).

Lam keeps busy at Government House, working

She was also asked how she dealt with all the burdens of work -- how does she unwind everyday?

The answer is nothing.

"I do nothing except work," she said. "I don't even spend time talking to my husband these days. That is [the life of] a workaholic.

"Yes, because I devote every minute of my time to work. There is so much work to do in Hong Kong."

That's mainly because she is a micro manager and doesn't want to delegate, or perhaps doesn't trust others enough to hand assignments off to them?

Or maybe she wants the people of Hong Kong to think they have a leader who is spending every waking moment governing the city so they are getting their money's worth paying her over HK$400,000 a month.

And not even have time to speak to her husband Lam Siu-por? Sounds like she'd rather be married to her job than have frank conversations with her loved ones.

She says she has not time to talk to Lam Siu-por

When asked how the family is coping with the pressures she is under, Lam curtly replies: I can only say that my family is fully behind me. Other than that I don't want to go into details."

Tight-lipped is an understatement...

 

 

HK Officials Lash Out at US Sanctions

The US sanctions punish HK and Chinese officials for NSL

 

Late last night Hong Kong time, Washington issued sanctions on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and 10 other local and mainland officials as punishment for their roles in enforcing the national security law that was enacted on June 30.

The economic sanctions, issued by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the US-based assets of individuals or entities will be blocked, and Americans and businesses are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

Personal details of the officials were published

That means for example, Lam, who has a Facebook account, would not be able to buy ads on the social media giant, and if she has a bank account in the US, it would have to shut it down. 

While Lam claims not to have any assets in the US; critics have noted one of her sons is currently studying in Harvard University, so how will this affect him?

What is remarkable is that the sanctions not only give the list of names, but also their personal information, which Lam says amounts to "state-sanctioned doxxing", though she adds the Barker Road address for her is incorrect. Oops -- should it say Government House on Upper Albert Road?

It is also interesting to see their reactions to being on this sanctions list. If you don't have any assets in the US, why should you care? Lashing out only makes you look even more insecure, but perhaps she was given instructions to sound angry by Beijing.

She described the sanctions are "shameless and despicable", and that "We will not be intimidated" in a statement on Saturday.

Luo mocked the sanctions as he has no US assets

Meanwhile her boss, Luo Huining mocked the list, saying: "Isn't such a 'sanction' in vain as I don't have any assets abroad? Of course I can send US$100 to Mr Trump for freezing."

The other local officials targeted included Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, Police Chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, and even retired police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung.  

Aside from Luo, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong, his deputy Zhang Xiaoming, and Beijing's national security chief in Hong Kong, Zheng Yanxiong.

The US Treasury Department singled out Lam for "implementing Beijing's policies of suppression of freedom and democratic processes," citing her role last year in attempting to pass an extradition law and, more recently, her involvement in "developing, adopting or implementing" the national security law.

A picture of Lam in Washington on her FB page

Lam said she would cancel her US visa right away even though it was due to expire in 2026. 

"Since I personally do not look forward to visiting this country, it looks like I can take the initiative to cancel it," she said in her Facebook post, which was accompanied with a photo of her smiling near Capitol Hill.

While this sanctions list does ratchet-up tensions between China and the US, it will affect Hong Kong. But many in the city are celebrating that a foreign power is finally making officials be accountable for their actions. 

Will this put a halt to the things that are happening at break-neck speed in Hong Kong? Probably not, but definitely a bump in the road to democracy that protesters will take as a win for now...

Never-ending Crisis

Carrie Lam has not offered any new solutions to the crisis, six months on

Every day in the media there is commentary from all kinds of people dispensing free advice to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her bosses in Beijing on how to end the crisis that has ripped Hong Kong apart for almost half a year.

One of the latest ones was an opinion piece written by Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights and former president of Chile. She urged Lam to take the opportunity post-District Council elections to reach out to Hongkongers and start having meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders, in particular young people.

The UN's Michelle Bachelet has urged Lam to start dialogues

She said also urged Lam to hold an independent inquiry into the police force's handling of the protests, and that having an objective inquiry would be good for everyone. It would also signal that Lam was willing to have a fresh start and was earnestly listening to the people.

Beijing was unhappy about her article and slammed her for interfering in "Hong Kong's internal affairs".

Many others have echoed the same kind of ideas, mainly that Lam needs to engage with residents and stop condemning the violence as it is not productive. They have all said, either for or against the protesters, that an independent inquiry is needed.

Even the head of the five-member panel appointed to oversee the Independent Police Complaints Council has said the police watchdog lacks the powers and resources to deal with barrage of complaints in an objective manner.

Protests continued again this past weekend in Tsim Sha Tsui

Panel chairman Denis O'Connor, the former British chief inspector of constabulary said: "[The IPCC] lacks the independent investigative capacity as we would expect to find in a body seeking to exercise oversight of the police.

"In the absence of establishing some facts that people can actually relate to, then rumours or innuendos or fake news are likely to continue and proliferate. I can't imagine that is good for Hong Kong."

Yet week after week in her regular press conferences, Lam continues to condemn the protesters as rioters and radicals and refuses to do anything until the violence is stopped.

Last week she even suggested setting up an inquiry into finding out the source of the protests.

District Council election was a referendum on the government

Does she really think it's something other than her?

After O'Connor's comments, Lam still insists on waiting until the report from his panel is completed before doing anything. So we're just going to wait another few months while the protests and violence continue?

Lam is hardly being helpful in getting Hong Kong back on its feet.

Her lack of engagement is completely baffling, no matter what side you are on.

Some think she is the fall guy and has to stay there until China comes up with another plan. They don't want to sack her right away otherwise it will be admitting that Lam was the wrong choice from the beginning.

But how long can we wait? We all want changes to happen for the better, not procrastinate until god knows when.

Will liaison office head Wang Zhimin keep his job?

In the meantime in Beijing there is speculation that Wang Zhimin, the current head of the liaison office will be removed because of the complete miscalculation on how badly the pro-establishment political parties would do in the November 24 District Council elections.

While the intelligence the liaison office got was totally wrong this time, it's surprising that his predecessor Zhang Xiaoming didn't get into trouble for what happened five years earlier in the Umbrella Movement. While the pan-democrats didn't win a landslide victory in 2015, they still made major gains.

There are so many things wrong with how Hong Kong is governed and everyone is giving their opinions on what Lam should do -- go away!

But what do you do when your boss doesn't let you leave, and you think it's beneath you to meet with people who despise you?

Zhang Xiaoming escaped punishment for 2014 protests

You do what Lam does and hides in Government House, and once a week gives stern messages that people don't take seriously because she has lost all integrity. She is basically a paper tiger who has lost her mandate to govern Hong Kong and yet Beijing continues to prop her up.

It's a sad state of affairs in Hong Kong, no wonder the economy is falling into recession.

And yet Lam blames the protesters. At this rate, things will never end...

Waiting for the Sign

Carrie Lam has done nothing to alleviate the five-month long protests

Late last night six cars pulled up to Government House for a meeting with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. There was no statement today about what was discussed, though media speculated perhaps there were plans to add more emergency measures or perhaps a curfew.

Then late in the afternoon nationalist state media outlet Global Times tweeted that it had "exclusive breaking news" that the Hong Kong government would make an announcement about a curfew in the city. It claimed that NowTV was the source of this information.

Chinese State-funded media Global Times reported about a curfew in #HongKong, but has subsequently deleted the tweet #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/mmpvnkPQQk

— Damon Pang (@damon_pang) November 14, 2019

 

However, not long after, NowTV issued a statement saying it never issued a report about this, and soon after Global Times deleted its tweet.

Its editor-in-chief Hu Xijin tweeted: "A GT reporter reported from HK that the HKSAR govt is expected to announce curfew for weekend: sources. I just checked how the information was obtained. My conclusion is that the information is not sufficient to support this exclusive news. I have demanded to delete the tweet."

At least they admitted it was wrong.

A lot of supplies donated by volunteers to Chinese University

But in a way we are kind of waiting for it... or it is kind of happening already with the MTR being shut earlier this week, and some of its stations not working. And now with many schools and universities closed, and shopping malls shut down, a lot of people are forced to stay at home.

Speaking of universities, many of the mainland students were forced to leave by the Chinese government. With all their passport details already on hand, bus tickets were quickly arranged to get them across the border. However, many of the students were literally dumped in Shenzhen and left to find their own way back home.

We are also waiting for a showdown between the police and students holed up in the various university campuses. The latter are very organized, managing their own canteen, supplies are categorized and put in piles from food to clothing, first aid, battery chargers and so on. They are completely self sufficient.

Meanwhile the protest marches at lunchtime continue despite riot police lashing out periodically and picking victims to arrest in the hopes of scaring the others. It doesn't work and instead makes these office workers even angrier.

First-time cooks are rustling up decent meals in the canteen

What does the Lam administration think it is achieving by doing nothing and allowing the police to be, as one of my friends put it, "drunk with power"?

This is not the Hong Kong we know and love.

However, whenever this is over, Hong Kong will not be the same again. Are we prepared for what changes will come? In the last few days, being here makes me wonder if it is like pre-World War II, trying to live a normal life when really things around you are not normal. When do you push the panic button and leave?

Oh and yes we can all thank Carrie for all this chaos that was really unnecessary if she had just listened to the people back in June... Her stubbornness astounds.

The Protest Spirit Marches On

Some 22,000 people stand in solidarity with teachers at Chater Garden

Finally 10 weeks into the protests the rest of the world is waking up the reality that Hongkongers are fighting to defend their city.

Today things were relatively tame. The weather wasn't cooperative this morning and there was a march organized by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union with the theme, "Safeguard the next generation, let our conscience speak".

The union says some 22,000 people showed up at Chater Garden in the pouring rain. That's a lot considering there are just under 30,000 teachers in the city.

Then they marched up to Government House, where Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor lives. Or symbolically lives.

Today's slogan was "Safeguard the next generation"

Later in the afternoon the march in Hung Hom from Hoi Sham Park to Whampoa MTR station goes smoothly and peacefully and officially ends at 5.30pm. Some of the protesters splinter off to Tokwawan, others to Mongkok, throwing eggs at pro-Beijing lawmakers' offices, or leaving graffiti.

They dared to deface the office of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Unions, spray painting graffiti, throwing engine oil, eggs and leaving pineapples, that symbolize hand grenades.

Meanwhile at 6pm I try to get on the 101 bus to get to my relatives' place in Tokwawan for dinner, and the bus driver says he is only going as far as Hung Hom cross harbour tunnel. Strange since the situation in Tokwawan is relatively calm and the crowds are dispersing.

So I take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, walk to Chatham Road to catch either the number 5 or 28 bus. When I get on the no. 5 bus, the driver says he is not passing through Tokwawan, but will take us to Choi Hung. How bizarre.

Gorgeous sunset view of Lion Rock in Choi Hung

But perhaps even more interesting is that no one is fazed -- no one complains about the protesters disrupting the roads.

The bus goes on the high way and this is a route I'm completely unfamiliar with -- consider it kind of city sightseeing. We end up at a bus stop near a bus terminus and I can see Plaza Hollywood, a shopping mall that includes Diamond Hill MTR station.

I walk towards it but not without snapping this picture of Lion Rock in the pink sunset. At least one good thing came out of this roundabout drive.

Thank goodness there's a massive taxi line and within 15 minutes I arrive at my destination.

Other than a tense standoff on Nathan Road near Tsim Sha Tsui, with police trying to chase down protesters, but they are weighed down by their heavy gear. Amazingly no tear gas was fired today. Perhaps, as some people joked, it was raining, which wasn't good conditions to use it.

A laser light show in front of Mongkok police station

Protesters called it a day around 8.30pm, saving their energy for tomorrow's big rally in Victoria Park.

It's expected to be the biggest rally yet, with organizers explaining in an ad hoc press conference that they hope people will stream into the park and then have to "walk" back out towards Central. Through this constant stream they hope to have a lot of people participating.

There are a lot of calls on social media and many seem to be heeding it. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Picture of the Day: Transcending Government House

Consul General Caroline Wilson's fun tweet

British Consul General to Hong Kong Caroline Wilson has waded into the fracas over Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's supposed emperor-like status in the city.

She took two pictures from the Cheung Kong skyscraper today overlooking Government House and tweeted: "View from Cheung Kong over, or should I say transcending, Hong Kong Chief Executive residence Government House".

It's audacious, but adds humour to the otherwise highly concerning statement this week from the liaison office head Zhang Xiaoming who claimed the chief executive transcended the judiciary and legislature.

We hope Wilson's comments are the last ones on this topic that threatened to create a storm in a tea cup and in the end was a lot of hot air.

More Drama with Leung Chai-yan

The soap opera at Leung Chun-ying's home continues with Chai-yan

We interrupt our regular programming to bring some bizarre news from Hong Kong's Government House.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's daughter Chai-yan was in the news today after she she wrote some Facebook status messages suggesting she was being physically harmed by her parents.

At 7am this morning she wrote:

And then within the same hour she also wrote: "I'd rather be living on benefits sleeping on a couch eating cup of noodles everyday than living the life I'm living now," and "I honestly wouldn't give a single fuck if my parents died right now this minute."

Then she added a "life event" on her Facebook wall, declaring her departure from home "forever".

She later posted "off to hospital" as paramedics arrived at Government House after receiving a call at 10.50am. A spokeswoman for emergency services said that at 11.45am the ambulance left because no one needed hospital treatment.

According to her, she did call the ambulance, but wasn't allowed to leave the residence.

What is going on?

Did Regina Leung Tong Ching-yi assault her daughter? If so, were there any injuries?

What precipitated this incident?

Too many questions and hardly any answers.

This afternoon all Leung Chun-ying would say was that his daughter needed space, denied his wife had hit Chai-yan, and that she was barred from leaving the house.

He said his daughter had been suffering "health problems" and had emotional problems since she began her studies in the UK.

"As a daughter of a public officer, she has been facing tremendous pressure in life," Leung said. "Meanwhile there are many public functions at Government House and therefore she could not have a quiet environment to recover."

He added that no one suffered any injuries, and as for her being apparently barred from leaving the home, Leung said: "You can use common sense to judge, how can anyone possibly imprison a person in Government House."

Leung's domestic issues are even more dramatic than the political ones. Chai-yan's presence in Hong Kong has made covering her father even more interesting these days and keeping their handlers working in overdrive...