Pro-Beijing camp Pro-Beijing camp Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet Ngor GBM GBS JP (née Cheng; Chinese: 林鄭月娥; Cantonese Yale: Làhm Jehng Yuht-ngòh; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022,[4] after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years.

Her government was also criticised for raising the qualification age for social security, the proposed cross-harbour tunnel toll plan, and the historic ban on the pro-independence National Party,[5] among other policies.

[15] She was born and grew up in a subdivided tenement flat on 229 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, where she finished her primary and secondary education at St. Francis' Canossian College, a Catholic girls' school in the neighbourhood, where she was head prefect.

[31] In 2007, Lam wrote to the Heung Yee Kuk's then-chairman, Lau Wong-fat, reassuring him that villagers suspected of illegally transferring their ding rights would not be criminally prosecuted.

[37] After the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) decreed the restriction on the 2017 Chief Executive election in August 2014, the pro-democracy suffragists launched a large-scale occupation protests which lasted for 79 days.

In the talks, Lam obdurately resisted, stating that students' proposal of civil nomination falls outside of the framework imposed by the Basic Law and the NPCSC decision, which could not be retracted.

[39] The political reform uproar caused Lam to lose her long-held title as one of the most popular government officials when her approval ratings in a University of Hong Kong poll plunged to its lowest level since she became Chief Secretary.

[41] In December 2016, Lam was under fire when she announced a deal with Beijing for the plans for a Hong Kong Palace Museum as the chair of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority without any public consultation and transparency during the decision-making process.

[45] On 6 February, multiple media reports said National People's Congress (NPC) chairman Zhang Dejiang, who was simultaneously head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Central Coordination Group for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, and Sun Chunlan, head of the party's United Front Work Department, were in Shenzhen to meet with some Election Committee members from the major business chambers and political groups.

[47] In response to the criticism of not having a full election platform, Lam revealed her manifesto titled "Connecting for Consensus and A Better Future" on 27 February, two days before the nomination period ended.

[50] Lam was sworn in by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping, on 1 July 2017,[51] the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Special Administrative Region, becoming the first female Chief Executive.

[62] He was then subjected to a four-hour interrogation by immigration officers upon his return from Thailand on Sunday, 7 October before he was finally allowed to enter Hong Kong on a seven-day tourist visa.

In January 2018, Carrie Lam slammed the Hong Kong Bar Association for its criticism on the "co-location arrangement" which would allow customs officers from Mainland China to set up checkpoints and exercise jurisdiction inside the West Kowloon station.

On 12 December 2018, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) announced it would not take any "further investigative action" against former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying over his receipt of HK$50 million from the Australian engineering firm UGL, ending the four-year marathon probe.

[70] Carrie Lam defended Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng who was strongly criticised for not following the conventional procedure of seeking external legal advice in the UGL case.

The Lam government also made an U-turn by suspending the controversial plan to impose a HK$200 penalty on Hong Kong's senior citizens claiming welfare payments without joining a job programme.

[72] Amid the UGL case and the mismanagements, the average score of Carrie Lam further plunged to a new low in mid January to 50.9 in the poll by the University of Hong Kong, dropping 5.5 points from the previous month.

[77] Lam also claimed that the bill controversy had been "escalated" by foreign powers, allegedly seizing the opportunity to attack the mainland's legal system and human rights record.

However within three hours, Lam released another video with a change of the tone, strongly reprimanding protesters for the "blatant, organised riot" and condemning it as "not an act of love for Hong Kong.

[86][87][88][89][90] In response, Lam apologised to Hong Kong residents, promised to "sincerely and humbly accept all criticism and to improve and serve the public", and repeatedly stated that the bill had already been suspended.

[98] Attempting to curb the ongoing protests, Carrie Lam on 4 October invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to impose a law to ban wearing face masks in public gatherings which was later declared unconstitutional by the High Court in November.

[103] Shortly after the election, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act which was previously passed overwhelmingly in the United States Congress into law.

[104] In December, 25 pro-democrat legislators tabled an impeachment motion to form an independent investigative committee to examine claims that Lam's conduct constituted a "serious breach of the law and dereliction of duty".

[114] Later in the day, the government reversed course and announced the tightening of anti-epidemic measures, requiring people who go to bars and nightclubs to present a negative test within the past 24 hours.

[115] In May 2020, the Beijing authorities initiated a plan for implementing the national security law for Hong Kong which would prominently criminalise "separatism, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference", which many interpreted as a crackdown on civil liberties, government critics, and the independence movement.

"[123] In January 2021, Lam said that district councillors and all 1200 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee should be considered as "public officers" under the national security law, and therefore be required to take an oath to swear loyalty to the government.

"[126] In March 2021, Lam said that authorities would be on "full alert" to make sure museum exhibits do not violate the national security law, and also said "Would the art pieces to be displayed there breach the so-called red line?

[132] In August 2020, Lam and ten other officials were sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 13936 by President Donald Trump for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy.

"[157] Zhao Lijan, mainland China's foreign ministry spokesperson, also blamed low voter turnout on "anti-China elements bent on destroying Hong Kong and the interference of external forces".

[162] In January 2022, Lam criticised and summoned the CEO and chair of Cathay Pacific, after a former employee broke home quarantine rules and spread the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.