Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam receives an interview after inspecting a polling station at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2021. The 2021 Election Committee's subsector ordinary elections in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) started on Sunday morning, the first election after the improvements to Hong Kong's electoral system earlier this year.Photo: Xinhua

 Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam will be visiting Beijing from Monday to Thursday for this year's duty visit to report to the central government leaders on Hong Kong's status. 

Speaking at a news conference on Monday morning, Lam noted that her 2020's duty visit was postponed and was held virtually in January 2021. 

The upcoming duty visit will be the last one during Lam's current term as the HKSAR's Chief Executive, and is also a first after 2019, as 2020's duty visit was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. 

Local media reported that reopening quarantine-free travel between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong is expected to be a key topic to be discussed during her duty visit. 

Lam's latest duty visit was announced just a day after Hong Kong held the Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, the first after the city's electoral reform. 

During the news conference, Lam noted that the reason for the low turnout in this election was not yet clear. But she stressed that a high turnout is not worth pursuing if it is based on political inferiority.

All 90 members of the seventh-term Hong Kong LegCo had been elected as of Monday morning, reports said. 

"I think it [LegCo] is broadly representative, and there are many people among them who were not in the legislature before," Lam said. 

Lam promised to work together with the lawmakers. "We will work together to help Hong Kong integrate with the nation's development plans," she said. 

Lam also welcomed the white paper on Hong Kong's democracy issued by the central government, saying that the document has reviewed Hong Kong's democratic development, which will provide a strong rebuttal of some Western politicians' criticism of the election. 

Lam's visit to Beijing will coincide with Macao regional leader's, Ho Iat-seng, annual duty visit to Beijing, which will take place from Tuesday to Friday. 

Global Times