Carrie Lam’s comments further demonstrate it is Beijing directing response to crisis

A leaked audio recording of Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has emerged in which she can be heard saying she would quit if she had “a choice” but suggested she was being prevented from doing so by authorities in Beijing.

In the recording, obtained by Reuters, the Hong Kong chief executive tells a group of businesspeople in a closed-door meeting last week she is “very, very limited” in how her government can respond to the mass protests that began in June over a proposal to allow extradition to mainland China.