Hong Kong leader Lam won’t seek new term after rocky 5 years

By ZEN SOO and VINCENT YU
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she won’t seek a second term after five rocky years marked by huge protests, a security crackdown and an overwhelming COVID-19 wave. Her successor will be picked in May and the city’s security chief during the 2019 protests is among the possible choices. Lam said at a news conference Monday that she will end her 42 years in public service this June and spend more time with her family. She presided over a period in which Beijing firmly established control over the former British colony that was returned to China in 1997. Her popularity sharply declined over an extradition bill, the mass protests and a national security law she strongly supported that has quashed dissent.