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Pro-Beijing camp piles pressure on Carrie Lam over mandatory COVID-19 testing

蘋果日報 2020/12/18 06:08


Conflict has erupted within the pro-Beijing camp over the city’s virus control policies, as a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections continues to hit Hong Kong.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam has been criticized for refusing to follow mainland China’s example in issuing a mandatory city-wide testing, with the latest censure coming from former leader Leung Chun-ying.
Leung, who is also a vice-chairperson of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), published a lengthy article pushing for mandatory COVID-19 testing in Hong Kong. The article was then widely quoted by pro-Beijing newspapers — a move regarded as amping up political pressure on Lam’s administration to follow Beijing’s lead.
The government said a mandatory city-wide testing is impossible as it will require a complete city-wide lockdown, with massive costs incurred in the process.
Singtao Daily, owned by CPPCC committee member Charles Ho, published an editorial criticizing Lam’s decision as “weak-willed.”
In the editorial “Mandatory testing is the way to save the economy” published on Thursday, Singtao Daily accused Lam’s administration of ignoring the “successful way” pioneered by mainland China in favor of the “bad example” set by the West. It said current prevention policies were “wishy-washy” and called on the government to “right their wrongs.” It quoted Leung that “the cost of this pandemic has become too great. The Special Administrative Region’s leadership must have the determination to eradicate the virus by consolidating its efforts to turn mandatory testing into reality.”
State-controlled papers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao also chimed in, piling on the criticism against Lam. Wen Wei Po’s editorial “Using the mainland as a guide, perfect the city’s pandemic control system,” criticized the city’s prevention measures as reactive and provisional, and echoed Leung’s call for mandatory testing. It called on the government to “investigate where preventative measures have been insufficient, to plug those holes and mend those fences,” with “a greater sense of responsibility and courage.”
Ta Kung Pao’s editorial “Leung Chun-ying: mandatory city-wide testing must work, and will work,” detailed Leung’s argument supporting mandatory testing. It also said that it’s worth any price to reduce infection numbers to zero, and it will ultimately come down to the Hong Kong government’s determination.
Sources within the pro-Beijing camp indicated that the central government may have to forcibly implement mandatory testing if Lam refuses to budge. Her handling of the pandemic may also affect her chances of winning a second term in office.
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