Hong Kong's leader vows to restore ‘political system from chaos’

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam has vowed to "restore the political system from chaos" in her annual policy address before the city's legislature, further offering economic recovery measures for the global financial hub.

"One of our urgent priorities is to restore Hong Kong's constitutional order and political system from chaos," Lam said in her lengthy speech on Wednesday.

"Hong Kong has undergone multiple blows that are unprecedented," she said, pointing to its social unrest last year, its shrinking economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and acts that "endangered national security."

"In the past year or so, Hong Kong has experienced the most severe political challenges since its return to the motherland," Lam said. "One of our urgent priorities is to restore... constitutional order and political system from chaos."

She pledged that her government would introduce bills to "enhance the oath-taking" by civil servants and to "enhance the electoral system," without elaborating.

She said her administration would reinforce patriotic education in the city and prioritize the "moral development" of youths and the strengthening of "their sense of national identity and awareness of national security."

Lam's address was delayed by more than a month to accommodate her high-profile trip to Beijing for talks on how China could help the financial hub's economic recovery.

Hong Kong's leader chastised foreign governments and parliaments for increasingly meddling in the city's local issues, which she emphasized were China's internal affairs, and said their interference was jeopardizing the country's national security.

SS