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Report: Hong Kong's Lam says she would quit if she could as protests rage

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Report: Hong Kong's Lam says she would quit if she could as protests rage

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam said last week that she would quit if given the choice for causing "havoc" in the Asian financial center, Reuters reported.

Lam made the remarks in a closed-door meeting with a group of Hong Kong business people, an audio recording of which was reviewed by Reuters.

"For a chief executive to have caused this huge havoc to Hong Kong is unforgivable," Lam reportedly said, adding that if she had the choice, "the first thing is quit, having made a deep apology."

Lam later told reporters at a press briefing that she has "never tendered a resignation" with the Chinese government, adding: "The choice of not resigning is my own choice."

Hong Kong has been gripped by ongoing protests since June, when Lam's administration proposed an extradition law that would have allowed people arrested in the semi-autonomous territory to face trial in mainland China. That proposal has since been suspended.

Lam acknowledged that the city's economy will continue to be negatively impacted by the unrest, and said she has "very limited" room to resolve the crisis as China is now treating it as a national security and sovereignty issue, according to the report.

However, Lam said China had "absolutely no plan" to deploy soldiers to Hong Kong, adding that Beijing would rather let the protests go on than risk international condemnation by using force to quell the demonstrations.