Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she has never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the city's political crisis, responding to a Reuters report about a voice recording of her saying she would step down if she could.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets since mid-June in protests against a now-suspended extradition bill that could see people sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party controlled courts.
Lam told business leaders last week that she had caused "unforgivable havoc" by introducing the extradition bill and that if she had a choice then she would apologize and resign, according to a leaked audio recording.