Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said in a statement last night that the local government “firmly supports” the setting-up of a Hong Kong and Macau work office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
The central authorities, i.e., the Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, “have released a plan on reforming Party and state institutions, and issued a circular demanding the faithful implementation of the plan,” Xinhua reported yesterday.
The Xinhua dispatch said that the Hong Kong and Macau work office of the CPC Central Committee “will be formed on the basis of the existing Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State, according to the plan.”
Xinhua also said that “the new office will function as a working body of the CPC Central Committee.” The national news agency also said that “the name of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council will be retained.”
In his statement, Ho thanked the central authorities for continuing to pay attention to the implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle in Macau.
Ho also said that the adjustment to, and streamlining of the central authorities’ system of handling Hong Kong and Macau affairs would further improve the “full, correct and firm implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle and safeguard Macau’s high degree of autonomy.
The chief executive also said that the setting-up of the work office would further improve the implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
