Early on Wednesday morning Carrie Lam, the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said that a highly controversial extradition bill, which was initially devised to allow suspects of criminal activity to be extradited to mainland China, is about to be scrapped in a bid by the government to calm down the ongoing Hong Kong protests.
“Lingering violence is damaging the foundations of our society, especially the rule of law […] The government will formally withdraw the Bill in order to fully allay public concerns.” [source]
The people of Hong Kong have been protesting incessantly for the past several months in an attempt to fight for more autonomic freedom from the Chinese government, which is still holding a tight grip over the major financial hub in East Asia.
The withdrawal of the Bill is considered by many as an overdue win for the protestors who are unlikely to become appeased solely by the rejection of the extradition law, and are expected to continue with the demonstrations and thus, put even more pressure on the Chinese government.
Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index, the main stocks index in Hong Kong, registered a 3.90 per cent gain in yesterday's trading session following the announcement of Lam. The price of the index is currently trading around 26700, which is a crucial resistance level that has been established on the 4th of January. Should the price manage to break above that level successfully, the next logical target would be 1000 points higher at 27700, which is the upper boundary of the reclining channel.