Carrie Lam: I've never asked to leave

Her appearance then comes off a sound recording leaked from a meeting with businessmen where she said last week:

- If I can choose, my first action would be to leave, after making a deep apology.

Now she regrets that the quotes from what is called a private meeting leaked, explaining:

- I have never filed any application to resign.

- The reason for that is that I think I can lead my employees to help Hong Kong out of this dilemma.

Carrie Lam adds:

- There is no contradiction, that I would like to resign but cannot.

In the audio recording, she describes her scope of action in light of the large protests in Hong Kong as "very limited". She says the area's future has been raised to a national security issue, and that Beijing's top leader is using Hong Kong as a puzzle piece in the power play against the United States.

But she stresses that Beijing "absolutely does not plan" to deploy the army against the protests, which are aimed at the toughening Chinese rule in Hong Kong.