The State Council has removed Zhang Xiaoming from his position as director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), moving him down to the post of deputy director of the office as part of a major shake-up, according to a Xinhua report today.
Zhang's role as HKMAO director has been given to Xia Baolong, 68, a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a former Communist Party of China (CPC) secretary of Zhejiang province.
According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP), Zhang, 56, has been appointed HKMAO deputy director “for daily affairs.” He had headed by HKMAO since September 2017.
Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK noted that Zhang's demotion came a little over a month after Wang Zhimin was removed from his position as director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong, following the special administrative region’s months of anti-government protests, riots and vandalism.
Wang's replacement, Luo Huining, has now also been made a deputy director of the HKMAO, although he will concurrently keep his role as liaison office chief in Hong Kong.
The director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau, Fu Ziying, has also been made a deputy director of the HKMAO, with the appointments announced this morning in a brief statement from the central government. Fu will also concurrently keep his role as liaison chief in Macau.
Luo and Fu are the central government’s top officials posted to Hong Kong and Macau respectively.
Xia began his political career in Tianjian,where he was born, in the 1970s. He rose through the ranks, served as vice-mayor of his hometown and was promoted to deputy party chief of Zhejiang in 2003, becoming party secretary of the province in 2013. Xia, who served as Zhejiang governor between August 2011 and December 2012, holds a doctoral degree in economics.
