The creation of the new Central Works Office for Hong Kong and Macao will further centralize decision-making by the Chinese Communist Party to the two SARs, with the possible appointment of a Politburo member to its leadership a sign of the importance of the new department.
A new Central Work Office for Hong Kong and Macao of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will be formed on the basis of the existing Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Department of the State Council, in accordance with a plan to reform Party and Macao institutions. Status released recently.
The current Office for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of the Chinese State Council will be integrated into a new body, called the Central Work Office for Hong Kong and Macao, which will come under the authority of the Party Central Committee and be in charge of implementing the plans. from Beijing to the territories.
The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office is the secretariat of the Liaison Office for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs – the party’s highest body responsible for affairs of the special administrative regions – which reports directly to the Politburo.
The new oversight body was unveiled last week as part of a sweeping overhaul aimed at bolstering the Communist Party’s role in managing finance, technology or social affairs, as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s efforts to consolidate a centralized leadership.
Chinese leadership has released details of a plan to reform state and Communist Party bodies to strengthen control over the financial sector and boost science and technology development.
President Xi Jinping described the reforms as “intensive” and “comprehensive” under a “turbulent and chaotic” international external environment.
The reforms should also “strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Party” and “improve the coordinating institutions for decision-making and deliberation […] on matters of state”, according to a summary of the Central Committee meeting .
The Party intends to complete the changes at the central government level by the end of the year and complete the restructuring at the local level by the end of 2024.
Greater centralization
Sonny Lo, a political analyst at the University of Hong Kong, told PLATAFORMA that this change is mainly aimed at centralizing the leadership, communication and coordination of the Party with the Office for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, and helping to formulate and implement the policies of the Departed in Hong Kong and Macau in a “much more efficient, faster and more effective way” “This includes the integration of Hong Kong and Macau in the Greater Bay Area, a priority in the coming years,” says Sonny Lo to PLATFORMA.
“If Party-State relations are the hallmark of the Chinese political system, this Party-State reform is now skewed in favor of the Party with the functions of the State Council, such as the Department of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs and other bodies, such as the state asset management committee, to be absorbed by the machine and direction
of the Party”.
The central government’s restructuring plan states that the new Department of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs will “commit itself to the duties of investigating, researching, coordinating and supervising the implementation of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle, the comprehensive jurisdiction of the central government and the governance of Hong Kong and Macao in accordance with the law”.
It will also “safeguard national security, guarantee people’s livelihood and well-being, as well as support the integration of Hong Kong and Macau in the national development plan”.
In a session this week focused on the outcomes of the Two Sessions, the commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Macau highlighted the importance of the new supervisory body in strengthening the central government’s supervision of the two SARs, and its integration in the development of the country.
Ding Xuexiang appointed to leadership
One of the country’s four new deputy prime ministers, Ding Xuexiang, has been appointed as the next official in charge of Hong Kong and Macao affairs, according to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily newspaper.
Ding, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee was elected as the country’s first deputy prime minister during the Two Sessions, and succeeds Han Zheng at the helm of the Central Group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs – a committee under the decision-making body of seven members.
The officer currently oversees macro-economic planning for the Greater Bay Area.
In 2007, Ding, then 45, was chosen by Xi, then the party secretary of Shanghai, to become his private secretary.
When Xi ascended to the presidency in 2013, Ding was transferred to Beijing to become deputy director of the party’s general office, becoming a member of the Politburo and director of the party’s general office five years later.
Xia Baolong, director of the current Office for Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, is expected to remain at the head of the new body to oversee and implement the restructuring during the transition period.
Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, recently told the South China Morning Post that this restructuring is “a significant step in the strategic planning” of the party and central government to “centralize” its leadership. in the city.
“We must recognize that the Communist Party of China is the main policy maker and enforcer of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle,” Lau said, adding that increased leadership in Hong Kong affairs could prevent the city from “becoming a weak link in national security, and be conducive to the seamless integration of development strategies”.
In a recent note, the Office of the Chief Executive of Macau indicated that the adjustment and improvement of the system of leadership of Hong Kong and Macau affairs by the central authorities and the reinforcement of centralization and unification of the affairs of the SARs, will favor a greater implementation of the principle One Country, Two Systems, in a “full, correct and firm manner”.
Ho Iat Seng’s office also considered that the new department contributes to the unification of the realization of the full power of governance of the central authorities and the safeguard of the high degree of autonomy in the governance of the Macao SAR.
“President Xi Jinping has profoundly pointed out that the impetus for strengthening the country relies on the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao,” says the statement from the Office of the Chief Executive.
