Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau Director Zheng Xiaosong fell to his death “due to depression”, aged 59, from the building where he lived, on Saturday evening, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HMO) of the State Council in Beijing announced in a terse statement on its website at 10 a.m. yesterday.
The liaison office shortly afterwards posted the HMO statement on its website.
The news of Zheng’s death shocked political figures and civic leaders yesterday. Many acknowledged his dedication to work.
The HMO statement said that assigned by comrades in the leadership of the central authorities, comrades from the Organisation Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and from the State Council Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office went to Macau yesterday to express their condolences to Zheng’s bereaved family.
The local liaison office director is the highest-ranking central government official posted to Macau.
Zheng took up the post in September last year, replacing Wang Zhimin who was then appointed as the director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Zheng was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Following the HMO announcement on Zheng’s death, Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On expressed his deep sadness and condolences to Zheng’s bereaved family, on behalf of the government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and himself.
Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng said that he was deeply saddened by Zheng’s death, and conveyed his sincere condolences to the bereaved family. Ho’s letter of condolences was released by the legislature in the afternoon.
Ho, an indirectly-elected lawmaker representing the city’s business sector, is the sole Macau member of the elite Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
In a mobile phone message sent to the media shortly after 12 a.m. yesterday, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said that they were notified by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) on Saturday night of a case in which a man was suspected of having fallen to his death. After arriving at the podium on the second floor of Hung On Tower near the Golden Lotus Square (Praça de Lotus Dourado), PJ officers suspected that the deceased had fallen to his death from a flat above and provisionally classified the case as an “unsuspicious” one, said the statement, which did not identify the victim, merely saying that while no identification document was found on him, he was a “middle-aged” man. The statement noted that the Judiciary Police have launched an investigation into the cause of death of the man.
Hung On Tower, built in the late 1990s, has three blocks, one of which was reportedly renamed “Jung Lin Building” in Cantonese (Zhong Lian in Putonghua) shortly after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) in 1999, which has reportedly been used as staff quarters of the local liaison office since then. The block is identified as “Hung On Tower – Jung Lin Building” in Chinese characters on the official map on the website of the Mapping and Land Registry Bureau (DSCC).
A sign at the entrance of “Jung Lin” indicates that the building was renamed in August 2002.
The three-block building in Zape lies near the Central People’s Government Liaison Office Building.
Asked by the media on the sidelines of yesterday’s Macau Forum, a weekly open-air debate hosted by government-owned broadcaster TDM in Areia Preta Park, PJ Director Sit Chong Meng declined to confirm whether the deceased was Zheng. Sit said that PJ officers were handling the case in line with their procedures and that there was no additional information on the case to be announced at the moment, adding that if there was any new information on the case the police would make another announcement as soon as possible.
No further information was announced last night by the Judiciary Police concerning the case.
Zheng, born in Beijing in September 1959, was a vice minister of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, before being appointed director of the Liaison Office in Macau.
Zheng, who studied Norwegian at the University of Oslo, started to work in 1983 and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1986. He studied at the University of Oxford in 1996-97.
Zhen was reportedly involved in talks between London and Beijing ahead of Hong Kong’s reversion to Chinese rule in 1997.
Working at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1996, Zheng joined the Ministry of Finance in 2000, before he was appointed assistant finance minister in 2012.
Zheng was the vice-governor of Fujian province from 2013 to 2016, before he started working at the CPC Central Committee International Liaison Department in July 2016.
Replying to requests by local media yesterday, Ho said that he was saddened by the sudden news of Zheng’s passing away.
Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations President Ng Sio Lai told local media that she was shocked by Zheng’s sudden death and felt it hard to accept the news.
Ng, one of the 12 local deputies to the National People’s Congress, said that she had numerous interactions with officials of the local liaison office – including Zheng, adding she thought that Zheng was rather talkative and worked diligently when he was serving his term as the local liaison office director.
Ng said that Zheng communicated and met representatives of local community associations often, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of Macau’s socioeconomic condition and residents’ living. Ng said she believed that Zheng’s death would not affect the local liaison office’s work as the office’s staff carry out their tasks collectively as a unit.
Directly-elected lawmakers Agnes Lam Iok Fong told local media that she had once had a face-to-face meeting with Zheng, adding that she was very shocked by Zheng’s death.
The media scholar, who regards herself as a “middle-of-the-road” legislator, said that Zheng, same as his predecessor Wang Zhimin, was more active in taking the initiative to contact and communicate with different segments of Macau’s civil society, than other local liaison office directors in the past.
Lam said she felt – from her interaction with Zheng – that he talked in a kind and casual way.
Replying to reporters on the sidelines of a public event, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan said that she was saddened by Zheng’s death. Also describing Zheng as a kind man, Chan said that she always had good communication with Zheng.
Chan said that she would not comment on individual cases when asked if political figures are always under great pressure in their work.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor yesterday expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Zheng.
In a statement, Lam said she knew Zheng who was working in Fujian province while she was chief secretary.
Lam added she had worked with Zheng to promote cooperation between Hong Kong and Fujian, including co-chairing the first Hong Kong-Fujian Cooperation Conference in 2015 that laid a solid foundation for further exchanges between the two places.
Lam noted that Zheng had worked in Hong Kong, was familiar with Hong Kong and concerned about the city’s development.
“I was grieved to learn of his sudden departure. On behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to his family,” she said.
This undated file photo taken from the website of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau yesterday shows its late director, Zheng Xiaosong.
This photo taken yesterday shows Jung Lin Building in Zape from which Zheng Xiaosong, director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau, fell to his death on Saturday night, according to an official statement. Photo: Tony Wong
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