The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent an additional 100 “cadres” to work in its top Hong Kong office over the past year to ensure the city was ruled by Chinese “patriots,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Friday.
“One mainland [China] source said about 200 new cadres had been transferred to the central government’s liaison office in the past year, partly to replace others in jobs on rotation,” according to the Hong Kong-based newspaper, which cited unnamed sources with knowledge on the matter.
“The net increase was about 100,” the source said. “Some of the rotations planned for last year were delayed because of the [Chinese coronavirus] pandemic and the circumstances in Hong Kong, so there have been more newcomers recently.”
The Hong Kong liaison office needed extra staff because the CCP had recently assigned the outpost more responsibilities, the source added. The cadres’ new tasks serve an overall duty of ensuring that Hong Kong is “ruled by patriots.” Specific duties include building bridges with Hong Kong youth who expressed displeasure towards Beijing during the city’s pro-democracy protest movement over the past year and a half, identifying “long-term governance challenges” for the city, and containing the spread of Chinese coronavirus within the community.
The new cadres “all attended briefings, including on disciplinary issues, in Shenzhen before they arrived in Hong Kong,” a second source close to the Hong Kong liaison office told the SCMP. Shenzhen is a city located in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong that borders Hong Kong.
“The disciplinary reminder is important because the liaison office now promotes a down-to-earth working style and following [Communist Party discipline] is a top priority,” the second source said.
The CCP replaced the head of the Hong Kong liaison office in January 2020 with Luo Huining, a Chinese political official known for enforcing Communist Party discipline in previous posts. The party likewise appointed Chinese politician Xia Baolong as the new head of the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) in Beijing early last year.
“Early this week, Shi Kehui, the former anti-corruption chief of Guangdong province, was transferred to Beijing to take a similar role at the HKMAO,” the SCMP reported on Friday.
“Among the new faces at the liaison office in Hong Kong is social media strategist Zheng Lin, who was appointed deputy director of its publicity, culture and sports department,” the newspaper noted. Zheng formerly worked for China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China. CCP officials transferred her from that position to the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the top CCP agency in charge of law enforcement, before placing her at their Hong Kong outpost.
Beijing imposed an illegal national security law on Hong Kong in May 2020, stripping the city of its traditional semi-autonomy. The legislation was part of the CCP’s efforts to quash a powerful pro-democracy protest movement that had rocked the city since the previous summer. The law’s passing precipitated a crackdown on the leaders of the city’s protest movement by Hong Kong security forces.
Under the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, Beijing does not have the power to pass laws to be enforced in Hong Kong.
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