Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday urged parents of murder victim Poon Hiu-wing to let go when expressing her condolences. Poon’s case was cited by Lam’s administration last year to justify the extradition amendments, which would allow criminal suspects to be sent to China for trial, and triggered the subsequent anti-government movement in Hong Kong.

“My condolences to the father and mother of Poon, I hope they can get over it,” said Lam during a regular press conference on Tuesday.

Chan Tong-kai, who killed his girlfriend Poon in Taiwan before fleeing back to Hong Kong, walked free since last October and has yet to turn himself in. “I don’t see any benefits our intervention can bring,” she added.

Chan is a free man and under Hong Kong’s judicial system, nothing further can be done, said Lam. The city’s leader urged Chan to turn himself in Taiwan and stressed that the government is willing to offer assistance. She learnt from Reverend Peter Koon that Chan feels guilty and is willing to bear the legal responsibility.

Lam’s remarks are a dramatic U-turn from her stance last year, where she used sending Chan to Taiwan as the reason to propose the controversial anti-fugitive bill, which was later withdrawn after millions of Hong Kong people took to the streets.

In a recent interview, Poon’s mother said Chan should not use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to postpone his surrender to Taiwan authorities.

Lam also dismissed all concerns about Justice James Spigelman’s resignation, which Hong Kong University’s law expert Eric Cheung described as “worrying” and “a wake-up call for the government.”

“Justice Spigelman in his resignation letter to me did not mention at all any reason or any consideration in his decision. So I could not speculate on his rationale for doing so, except to stress that under the Basic Law, we welcome judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the Court of Final Appeal,” said Lam, who did not explain why a commendation letter was not issued.

“The legal system is as robust as ever under the national security law, that judicial independence is not undermined in any way, that Hong Kong now restores law and order, which makes Hong Kong an even more attractive place for doing business, rather than the contrary as some have misrepresented the Hong Kong situation,” she continued.

The administration’s latest efforts serve to clarify the situation and the national security law to the international audience at the United Nations Human Rights Council Meeting, she added.

On the 12 Hong Kong activists who are currently detained in Guangzhou, Lam asked, “Isn’t it reasonable and fair that these 12 people should first face their legal liabilities in that other jurisdiction according to the law?” The Immigration Department is in liaison with the detainees' families to provide assistance, she stressed.

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