HONG KONG — Pressure on Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam was mounting Saturday, with signs emerging that she may delay an unpopular extradition bill that has drawn hundreds of thousands of people into the streets in protest. Opponents want her to withdraw the bill, which would allow Hong Kong suspects to be tried in mainland China. Many in Hong Kong fear the measures would undermine the former British colony’s legal autonomy. Le urged the U.S. to treat Hong Kong “objectively and fairly,” the ministry said in a statement. Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said that the Hong Kong leader very well might end up as a scapegoat, as a face-saving tactic: President Xi Jinping, China’s strongest leader in decades, has demanded that Hong Kong follow Beijing’s dictates, and many in Hong Kong fear their freedoms have been fading since he came to power in 2012.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer June 15, 2019 02:48 UTC