Xia Baolong was appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on Thursday, according to an appointment notice issued by the State Council, China’s Cabinet, on Thursday.
Xia is vice-chairman and secretary-general of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body.
Appointing the vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee as the new director shows the central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong affairs.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, HKSAR chief executive, said in a statement
Zhang Xiaoming, who had headed the office since 2017, is now a deputy director of the office. Zhang’s post is at the ministerial level, according to the notice.
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Luo Huining and Fu Ziying, the respective directors of the liaison offices of the central people’s government in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, were also appointed as deputy directors of the Hong Kong and Macao affairs office, serving concurrently with their earlier posts, the notice said.
Xia, 67, holds a doctorate in economics from Peking University.
He began his career in 1969 as a middle school teacher and joined the Party in 1973.
Unlike the former director, Zhang, whose career has been almost exclusively in Hong Kong and Macao affairs, Xia has worked in many parts of the country.
He became vice-mayor of Tianjin in 1997. In 2003, he was transferred to Zhejiang province, where he became the provincial Party secretary in 2012.
In 2018, Xia was appointed vice-chairman and secretary-general of the CPPCC National Committee. The post is at the subnational level.
He Junzhi, associate dean of the Institute of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Development Studies at Sun Yat-sen University, said such an arrangement means the central government has made adjustments to the governance system for Hong Kong and Macao affairs.
Before, the director of the Hong Kong and Macao affairs office was at the ministerial level and its deputy directors were at subministerial level, according to He.
Now, the head of the office is a subnational level leader, and the two directors of the liaison office, who are at the ministerial level, are deputy heads of the office, along with Zhang Xiaoming, the former head, he said.
“The comprehensive functions of the Hong Kong and Macao affairs agency have been upgraded. The collaboration between the liaison offices and the Hong Kong and Macao affairs office will also be improved under an integrated leadership,” he said.
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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor welcomed the appointment in a statement on Thursday.
“Appointing the vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee as the new director shows the central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong affairs,” the statement reads.
“I believe under Xia’s leadership, the Hong Kong and Macao affairs office will continue to support the work of the HKSAR government and fully implement the principle of ‘one country, two systems’, promote the development of Hong Kong and ensure Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability,” she added.
