HONG KONG — Carrie Lam, the embattled chief executive of Hong Kong, is a workaholic who sleeps three to five hours a night. She assiduously reads letters from constituents. Within the Hong Kong civil service, she is labeled a “houdadak,” or “good fighter,” because she practically never backs down in a bureaucratic battle.

The question was whether Mrs. Lam would back down, or dig in further, in the biggest political fight of her career — one that could determine how long she stays in office.

On Saturday, she did back down, suspending an extradition bill she had been trying to push through the Hong Kong Legislative Council that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China, Taiwan and elsewhere for prosecution.

[Update: Protestors return to Hong Kong streets, rejecting Carrie Lam’s apology.]

Business executives, seeing the violent street protests against the bill and fearful they might someday be extradited themselves to uncertain fates in China’s opaque judicial system, were increasingly critical of the plan. This had prompted some of Mrs. Lam’s senior advisers to recommend postponing legislative approval.