Hey Carrie Lam, what's your game now?

Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam issued an apology to the people for trying to rush a bill, "which would allow people to be extradited to China to face criminal proceedings there". "The chief executive apologizes to the people of Hong Kong for this and pledges to adopt a most sincere and humble attitude to accept criticisms and make improvements in serving the public," a statement said. A day earlier she had sounded angry when she said that she had decided to suspend the bill because of "injuries to law enforcement, media workers and the people of Hong Kong". Earlier in the week police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the protests but yesterday the police held back and allowed protesters to continue their march. The Hong Kong government is a puppet of China but it did not use live bullets to stop protests, whereas in India, police regularly shoot at any peaceful protest. "Before the mass street protests, a pregnant young woman went on a romantic getaway to Taiwan. Poon Hiu-wing, 20, never returned to Hong Kong from that Valentine's Day trip last year, but her boyfriend, Chang Tong-kai, 19, did. He would later tell Hong Kong cops that he had strangled her, stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it in a thicket of bushes near a subway station in Taipei." This was taken as an excuse to rush the extradition bill through the Hong Kong legislature. The reason for the massive protests is that in 2016, "Five Hong Kong booksellers disappeared and later turned up in police custody in mainland China", presumed kidnapped by Chinese government. In 2010, Chinese authorities visited Bao Pu "after he obtained a copy of what he believed was the diary of Li Peng, China's premier during the crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989". Bao never published the diary. Earlier this month China's defence minister Wei Fenghe said that it was "correct policy" for troops to kill protesters at Tiananmen Square. "The government was decisive in stopping the protest," he said. So why was Beijing so soft and cuddly with protesters in Hong Kong? Maybe because it would attract enormous coverage because of the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen massacre on 4 June. Even the Great Firewall may not be able to black all the news out from the people of the mainland. The US warned China of Hong Kong businesses losing confidence because of is meddling. Normally Beijing would bristle at what it sees as interference in its sovereignty but with so many Chinese companies listing on the Hong Kong exchange it did not want to take a chance. The main reason could be a threat to remove Hong Kong's special status by the US Congress. Beijing cannot denounce that because US citizens passing through Hong Kong could be arrested and handed over to Beijing under the bill. If the special status is removed it would be a huge economic loss for Beijing. Xi Jinping has learnt how China is hated. After the enormous loss of face Carrie Lam's days could be numbered.