Newly formed top office overseeing HK, Macao affairs unveiled

The newly formed Hong Kong and Macao work office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee made its first public appearance with a meeting on Tuesday chaired by Xia Baolong, director of the office.

The high-profile appearance of the office's leadership shows that the formation of the top office overseeing Hong Kong and Macao affairs has completed and that the leadership and decision-making mechanism of the office and relevant institutions in the two special administrative regions (SARs) are now unified, providing a firm guarantee for the Party's leadership in Hong Kong and Macao-related work, experts said.

Zhou Ji, who's in charge of day-to-day operations; Zheng Yanxiong, director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong; Zheng Xincong, director of the central government's liaison office in Macao; Yang Wanming and Wang Linggui were appointed as deputy directors of the office.

Zhou, 59, was named deputy governor of Henan Province in 2021 and was later made head of the Party commission that oversees law enforcement in the province, according to media reports.

The new office will function as a working body of the CPC Central Committee. The name of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council will be retained, according to the plan unveiled in March.

The reform plan also aims to fully implement the central government's full governance over the two SARs and the One Country, Two Systems principle, supporting the two SARs' integration into the country's overall development plan, experts said.

"Given that the directors of the two liaison offices of the central government in Hong Kong and Macao are both the deputy directors of the office, this means the office shares a unified leadership and decision-making mechanism with local relevant institutions in Hong Kong and Macao, which will coordinate and operate in a unified way," Louis Chen, a member of the Election Committee and general secretary of the Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The CPC Central Committee's leadership over Hong Kong affairs will be conducive to maintaining and promoting prosperity of the city with all-out efforts, ensuring that the city won't become a weak point in national security, and making certain its development plan is seamlessly connected with the country's overall plan, some experts said.

The official announcement of the list of members of the office shows that the team members have the ability to implement the work requirements the CPC Central Committee has for the office, including conducting investigation and research, safeguarding national security, promoting Hong Kong's integration into the overall development of the country, resolving deep-seated problems, and responding to dangerous international situations, Lau Siu-kai, a consultant from the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies who is also a senior policy advisor, told the Global Times on Tuesday.