Ambrose Lam

When asked his views on the Chinese Communist Party, the sole governing and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China, Lam expressed his admiration towards the party, describing it as "great",[8][9] citing the party's ability in "guiding China into a new era"[10][11] and transforming mainland China into one of the world's superpowers over the last few decades.[12] His views sparked widespread criticism from the legal sector.[12]

When asked his views on the controversial White Paper issued by the Central People's Government, which called for Hong Kong judges to be patriotic and included judges as "administrators" of the HKSAR,[13] Lam stated that the requirement for judges to be patriotic did not undermine the rule of law, and that he saw no problem in regarding the judiciary as being part of the government's "administrators".[14] His views sparked widespread criticism from the legal sector, of which many believed that the judiciary should not be counted as part of the administration due to Hong Kong's separation of powers. Hong Kong's former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Andrew Li, expressed "great concern" towards Lam's comments, commenting that judges should not be pro or anti anyone under the principle of judicial independence.[6] In response to this allegation, Lam stated that judicial independence will not be compromised if judges are required to be patriotic.[13]

On 5 May 2014, in a press conference on 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform consultation, then-President of the Law Society Ambrose Lam was asked about the Council's views towards the “love your country” requirement for Chief Executive Candidates in the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election by a TVB Pearl News reporter in English. Lam, however, refused to answer the reporter's question in English, saying that "he already provided the answer in Chinese", and that "the reporters can translate it (his answers in Chinese) into English".[15] His refusal to answer questions in English despite his fluency in English[15] has resulted in widespread criticism. As a result of the incident, Lam was nicknamed "clown" by some of his critics,[16] and has led to questions about Hong Kong's status as an Asia’s World City.[17]