the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies interpreted as Beijing granting Lee permission to open Hong Kong's international borders. On 21 September 2022, Lee said that Hong Kong is a "highly open, international city in the Greater Bay Area", though SCMP noted that the region has been mostly cut off from the outside world since early 2020 due to travel restrictions. Frederick Ma Si-hang, a former Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, also called Hong Kong "isolated". On 23 September 2022, Lee said Hong Kong was still aligned with the "dynamic zero-Covid" strategy. A day later, the Centre for Health Protection said Hong Kong is unlikely to achieve zero-Covid. On 1 October 2022, Lee said Hong Kong would not "lie flat" when fighting COVID-19. On 8 October 2022, Lee said that differences of opinion should not detract from fighting the virus. On 11 October 2022, reporters pointed out that the third-jab rate in Hong Kong and Singapore were similar with Singapore having dropped many COVID-19 measures compared to Hong Kong, but Lee said he would not compare anti-epidemic efforts between the two cities due to differences in healthcare systems and culture, and would continue to hold steady on Hong Kong's "0+3" scheme for inbound travelers. Lee also said that removing all travel restrictions would first require the government to consider many "uncertain factors". On 18 October 2022, Lee said that the government should be careful when further easing COVID-19 restrictions, that a gradual approach was necessary, and that the government would be careful of new variants. Lee also said that the government was working with mainland China to "iron out some challenges" in regards to quarantine-free cross-border travel, and said that details had not been hashed out, stating "I will have to wait for further ideas from our mainland counterparts so that we can really work out the details." On 20 October 2022, Lee was questioned by lawmaker Michael Tien on why his policy address "made no mention of the [proposed] 0+0 measure and a roadmap of returning to normalcy," with Tien also saying "You used a lot of paragraphs to talk about attracting talent, hosting large-scale exhibits and international events, but these rely on the number of overseas arrivals. And you know these people are most resistant to Hong Kong's anti-epidemic policies." On 21 October 2022, Lee was asked by citizens when the mask mandate would be