Beijing is drawing up a plan to remove Hong Kong’s beleaguered chief executive Carrie Lam .So far the central government in Beijing has given its support to her and the Hong Kong police, calling the demonstrators “rioters” and condemning the violence.

However, sources told the newspaper that the plan would be dependent on the situation in the city first stabilising so that Beijing is not seen as giving in to violence.

Hong Kong has now been battered by 20 weeks of protests and with no political solution in sight, clashes have intensified each month.

Earlier this month, Lam who has refused to grant any major concessions to protesters invoked a colonial-era emergency law to ban face masks, setting off a new wave of protests and vandalism that shut down much of the city’s transport network.

If President Xi Jinping decided to go ahead with the plan to remove Lam, the report said her replacement would be installed by March.

Leading candidates being considered to replace Lam reportedly include Norman Chan, former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Henry Tang, who has also served as the territory’s financial secretary and chief secretary for administration.

A leaked audio recording emerged in September of Lam saying she would quit if she had a choice although she later said she had not contemplated standing down.