Beijing is drawing up plans to replace Ms Lam, with an “interim” chief executive possibly as early as March, after five months of sometimes violent demonstrations against her rule, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. If the plan is enacted, Ms Lam’s successor would serve the remaining years of her term, which ends in 2022.

Lam Cheuk-ting, a pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, said the removal of Ms Lam might not be enough to resolve the political crisis. “We need to fix Hong Kong’s systemic problems: namely the undemocratic system and the police force being out of control with no checks and balances,” he said. But he added that he believed a new chief executive might adopt a new strategy to deal with the protests. “That may be a new start.”

Leading candidates to succeed Ms Lam include Norman Chan, former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Henry Tang, son of a textile magnate who has also served as the territory’s financial secretary and chief secretary for administration, people familiar with the matter told the FT.

Hong Kong was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the introduction of a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s legislature formally withdrew the controversial legislation that would have allowed criminal suspects to stand trial in courts controlled by the Chinese Communist party.

Why China is preparing to ditch Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam

The protest movement has since turned into a fight for democratic elections, one of the demonstrators’ five demands that include calls for an independent inquiry into police brutality.

“Beijing doesn't understand the Hong Kong people and what we want. The voices of the Hong Kong people are very clear: five demands, not one less,” said Bonnie Leung, a pro-democracy campaigner. “These five demands are really about rebuilding a system that can protect us from further mayhem.”

“Replacing Carrie Lam isn’t important to us, she has been a puppet this whole time,” said Martin, a 23-year-old activist who has been on the frontline of the protests. “What is more important are the policies and attitude of the next chief executive. If they continue to butt up against us and not listen to what we want, we won’t give up our fight.”

China’s foreign ministry said the FT’s report was “a political rumour with ulterior motives”.