Lam government

In the 2017 Chief Executive election, Lam received 777 votes in the 1,194-member Election Committee, beating former Financial Secretary John Tsang's 365 votes and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing's 21 votes. Lam was the first female Chief Executive in history, higher than Leung's 689 votes in the last election. She also became the first Chief Executive elected without being the most popular candidate, as she had been trailing behind Tsang in the polls.[1] She pledged to "heal the social divide" and "unite our society to move forward" in her victory speech.[2]

Lam received the appointment from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on 11 April 2017.

The Hong Kong government established the Office of the Chief Executive-elect ahead of the election with a controversial decision to site the temporary office in Hong Kong's most expensive business area in Champion Tower on Garden Road, Central. Former postmaster general Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei was appointed as the head of the office.[3]

One day after Lam vowed to "heal the social divide" in her victory speech, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's government pressed charges against nine key players in the 2014 Occupy protests, immediately sparking controversy whether Leung embarrassed Lam. Leung also blocked Carrie Lam's pledge to scrap Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) for Primary Three pupils.[4]

On 4 May 2017, former Director of Immigration Eric Chan was appointed the Director of the Office of the Chief Executive-elect as well as the Office of the Chief Executive she was sworn in after 1 July.[5]

Carrie Lam announced her new cabinet on 21 June 2017, with six incumbent ministers keep their portfolios including the three top secretaries.[6] The cabinet was reshuffle twice in 2020 and 2021.

Carrie Lam announced her first policy address in October 2017.

In her first week in office, Carrie Lam offered subsidies to around 40,000 secondary school leavers and promised permanent jobs for more than 2,300 teachers and promised that she would spend the extra HK$5 billion a year on education.[7]

In January 2018, Lam again handed out HK$500 million in extra funding to the Hong Kong's public hospitals amid the deluge of winter flu cases and a severe shortage of nursing staff. The funds would be drawn by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority from its own reserve of HK$1 billion and would later be reimbursed by the government in the financial year 2018/19.[8]

The legal action by the former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen had resulted in the unseating of four more pro-democracy legislators, Leung Kwok-hung, Nathan Law, Yiu Chung-yim and Lau Siu-lai on 14 July 2017 after two pro-independence legislators Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching were ousted from the legislature earlier in November 2016. The event caused the quick deterioration of the relations between the pro-democracy camp and the government after the strained relations had been improved compared to Lam's predecessor.[9] Lam pledged she would not target more pro-democrats in oath-taking controversy.[10]

The Hong Kong government has proposed the local implementation of the National Anthem Law of the People's Republic of China. Lam dismissed the calls for a public consultation for the controversial bill as some provisions deemed as too vague by the pro-democrats. Lam stated that "I do not understand why one has to insist on the term 'public consultation'," calling the term only a "label". She also insisted the proposed bill only targets people who deliberately insult the national anthem and the residents not to worry about it.[28]

A 19-year-old Hong Kong resident being arrested and tried in Taiwan for killing his 20-year-old girlfriend in 2018 sparked the debate of Hong Kong's fugitive law. At present, the two ordinances, the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance, are not applicable to the requests for surrender of fugitive offenders and mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan and therefore the government does not have any legislation enabling it to request for extraditing the suspect.[35] In February 2019, the government proposed a changes to fugitive laws to plug the "legal loophole" by establishing a mechanism for case-by-case transfers of fugitives to any jurisdiction with which the city lacks a formal extradition treaty.[36]

Opposition expressed fears about the city opening itself up to the long arm of Mainland Chinese law and Hongkongers could be victimised under a different legal system and urged the government to establish an extradition arrangement with Taiwan only.[36] The business community also raised concerns over the mainland's court system. The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) criticised that mainland's "criminal process is plagued by deep flaws, including lack of an independent judiciary, arbitrary detention, lack of fair public trial, lack of access to legal representation and poor prison conditions".[37] The Liberal Party and the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, the two pro-business parties, suggested 15 economic crimes being exempted from the 46 offences covered by the extradition proposal.[38] The government backed down on proposal to after business chambers voice concern by exempting nine economic crimes. Only offences punishable by at least three years in prison would trigger the transfer of a fugitive, up from the previously stated one year.[39]

Three human rights groups, the Amnesty International, Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, and Human Rights Watch opposed the bill, warning the extradition proposal could be used as a tool to intimidate critics of the Hong Kong or Chinese governments, peaceful activists, human rights defenders and putting those extradited at risk of torture or ill-treatment. On 28 April, estimated 130,000 protesters joined the march against proposed extradition law. The turnout was the largest since an estimated 510,000 joined the annual July 1 protest in 2014.[40]

Lam also said the mainland was never intentionally excluded from the extradition laws ahead of the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. "It was not what was said, that there were fears over the mainland’s legal system after the handover, or that China had agreed to it. This is all trash talk," Lam said. But her claim was refuted by last colonial governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten and last colonial Chief Secretary Anson Chan.[41]

On 24 May, 11 European Union representatives met with Carrie Lam to carry out a démarche formally protesting against the bill.[42][43] On the same day, eight commissioners from the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) wrote to Chief Executive Carrie Lam asking that the bill be "withdrawn from consideration", stating that "the proposed legislation would irreparably damage Hong Kong's cherished autonomy and protections for human rights by allowing the Chinese government to request extradition of business persons, journalists, rights advocates, and political activists residing in Hong Kong." The commissioners added that the bill could "negatively impact the unique relationship between the U.S. and Hong Kong" – referring to the longstanding U.S. policy of giving the city preferential treatment over mainland China based on the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act.[44]

Lam survived the first motion of no-confidence against her with the backing of the pro-Beijing majority in the legislature on 29 May. Democratic Party legislator Andrew Wan who moved the motion claimed that Lam "blatantly lied" about the extradition bill and misled the public and the international community, as Lam claimed that colonial officials did not deliberately exclude China from extradition laws ahead of the 1997 handover. He also called Lam to resign as her popularity reaching a new low in a recent poll.[45]

Carrie Lam at the press conference with Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng and Secretary for Security John Lee the day after the massive protest on 10 June which resulted in violent clashes between protesters and police.

On 9 June, a record breaking of 1.03 million protesters marched in the streets against the extradition bill and called for her to step down.[46] Following the 10 June violent clashes, Lam spoke in the next morning, admitting that the size of the rally showed there were "clearly still concerns" over the bill but refused to withdraw the bill.[47] She refused to draw in to the questions of whether she would fulfil her promise that she would resign "if mainstream opinion makes me no longer able to continue the job" in her 2017 Chief Executive election campaign, only saying that it was important to have a stable governing team "at a time when our economy is going to undergo some very severe challenges because of external uncertainties."[48] On 12 June, the protest outside the government headquarters later descended into violent clashes with the police. Amid the clashes, Lam appeared in a TVB interview where Lam was in tears when she was asked if she betrayed Hong Kong, "I grew up with all Hong Kong people and my love for this place has prompted me to make many personal sacrifices." Instead of selling out Hong Kong, she said her husband had told her that after she became Chief Executive she had "sold herself to Hong Kong".[49] She said she had done nothing against her conscience and would not withdraw the bill. However within three hours, Lam released another video with a turn of the tone, strongly reprimanding protesters for the "blatant, oragnised riot" and condemning it as "not an act of love for Hong Kong."[50]

After the intense violent clashes, Carrie Lam finally backed down and announced a pause in the passage of the extradition bill on 15 June. She said that the Security Bureau would suspend the second reading of the bill and would not set a time frame on the seeking of public views.[51] However, she dodged the question if she would step down and refused to apologise.[51]

On 16 June, an estimation of nearly two million protesters as claimed by the organisers flooded the streets demanding a full withdrawal of the bill.[52][53][54][55][56] The police says that there are 338,000 at its peak, but admitted that it should be more as only those on the original route were counted.[57] The government issued a statement in the evening where Carrie Lam apologised to Hong Kong residents and promised to "sincerely and humbly accept all criticism and to improve and serve the public."[58] A government source told to the South China Morning Post that with the administration making it clear that there was no timetable to relaunch the suspended bill, the legislation would die a "natural death" when the current term of the Legislative Council ended in July next year.[59]

Amid the social upheaval, Lam saw her approval rating fall to a record low of 23% and her disapproval rise to 67%, according to a survey released by the University of Hong Kong's Public Opinion Programme. Her support rating was at 32.8 points, down from 63.6 points during her first week in office, the lowest any Chief Executive ever received. Support for the SAR government also fell to 18%, the lowest since the 2003 political crisis.[60]

The massive anti-government protest was cracked down following the implementation of the National Security Law by China, crushing dissidents and forcing the disband of civic groups. With the opposition being silenced and removing governing obstacles, Lam's cabinet was reshuffled twice in 2020 and 2021, promoting hardliners from the police, such as Chris Tang and John Lee, further instigating the concerns of transforming Hong Kong into a police state. New policies did not enjoy much popularity still, including requiring oath-taking pledging allegiance to China, vetting politicians, pushing for national security education, and placing pandemic restrictions. Lam announced not to campaign for re-election in April, paving way for John Lee, the Chief Secretary promoted by Lam and a former police, to succeed after receiving blessing from China.