Whatever embattled Chief Executive Carrie Lam may be thinking after her recent “dialogue” sessions on Hong Kong’s political crisis, she appears to be keeping it close to the chest, according to one insider, who described a closed-door session on Wednesday as a “unilateral” attempt to break the government out of its “echo chamber.”
Lam has refused for weeks to engage with pro-democracy protesters’ demands, allowing a movement that began with peaceful marches against a deeply unpopular extradition bill to spiral into an oftentimes violent mess that has obliterated public faith in the government and shaken Hong Kong’s long-standing reputation as a bastion of stability. But rather than take concrete action, beyond endorsing the police’s increasingly hardline response to protests, Lam has repeatedly called for dialogue to find a way forward.
Ben Kong, a 24-year old senior policy officer at a think tank, attended one such dialogue session with Lam and Edward Yau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, saying he got the impression at the event that the government was “trying to break out of their echo chamber and hear people out.”
“From my impression, the 26 participants were essentially invited by senior civil servants or top government officials,” he said, noting that participants varied in age, and included members of the media, medical, political, and religious sectors. “There is a general agreement that the people invited do not understand the reason for the Government’s stubbornness.”
The representatives shared “sentiments of disappointment, frustration, sadness” with the chief executive, while many “advised on how government communications can be done better by being more genuine.”
However, he said, the dialogue was “unilateral” for the most part, with Lam and Yau mostly just asking follow-up questions about the attendees’ comments, with “no attempt to defend the government stance.”
Questions raised by Lam and Yau included: “What do reporters think?”, “What do doctors and nurses think?”, and “Has the opportunity already passed for dialogue?”
“It was rather unilateral in the sense that it was mostly the invitees expressing our views to the government. Government officials were explicitly instructed and reminded to listen instead of speaking,” he said.
“I think [the dialogue] is what the Government needs considering how serious their echo chamber is. Attendees approached Lam and Yau after the event ended in unofficial capacities. That’s when the exchanges actually got more bilateral. During the event, it is mostly expressions of opinions.”
“Some attendees expressed their disappointment and frustration in the entire collapse of accountability in this incidence” to Lam and Yau after the event unofficially ended, Kong said, to which they “nodded and said they understood.”
Attendees also urged Lam and Yau to consider the protesters’ demands — which include the complete withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill, an independent investigation into police’s use of force, and broader democratic reforms — but neither indicated in the main session whether they would do so.
The unofficial exchanges, he added, were “off the record, but if one’s willing to give her words the benefit of the doubt, then I’d like to think she has tried her best in good faith to defend some Hong Kong values where she can,” he added.
Kong said that neither gave any indication of how they intended to navigate out of the current crisis.
Lam’s popularity rating, meanwhile, has plunged to an all-time low as the city continues to grapple with three months of protests that have seen escalating violence.
Meanwhile, an exclusive Reuters report on Friday said that the central government had effectively forbade Lam from conceding on any of the protesters’ demands, even after she submitted a recommendation stating that at least two were feasible. And protesters, meanwhile, appear to show no signs of backing down.
If accurate, the report raises questions as to how the city can ever maneuver out of the current stalemate, even with all the dialogue in the world.
