HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam steadily climbed her way up bureaucratic ranks to capture the top position in the former British colony, relying on sheer intelligence, ambition, canny networking and an astute deference to authority.

On Saturday, she was fighting for her political life as she sought to explain her decision to push through unpopular legislation that would make it easier to extradite suspects to mainland China.

A key reason for Lam's vulnerability is that she was not directly elected by the territory's people, but rather by the vote of a committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites.

She now finds herself caught between a public that never truly backed her, and leaders in Beijing who want her to push through measures seen to be eroding economic, social and cultural freedoms.