Hong Kong Office Is Led By A Security Hardliner Appointed By China.

As Beijing tightens its hold after 2019 democratic demonstrations, the hardline director of Hong Kong’s national security agency has been named China’s top envoy in the city, state media said on Saturday.

Luo Huining has been replaced as director of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong by Zheng Yanxiong, 59, who has been nominated by the State Council with immediate effect.

Since its founding in 2020, when Beijing imposed a comprehensive national security legislation on the financial center in response to the massive and often violent demonstrations, Zheng has served as the head of Hong Kong’s national security agency.

The organization run by Zheng handled the enforcement of the security statute, which has subsequently been used to the prosecution of several activists.

John Lee, the mayor of the city, praised the choice, stating on Saturday that Zheng “organized, monitored, and directed” Hong Kong’s efforts to maintain national security.

The “mini-constitution” created for the city’s 1997 transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China prohibits mainland authorities from meddling in Hong Kong’s daily operations.

However, as Beijing remakes Hong Kong in its own authoritarian image, the Liaison Office has become more vocal and prominent.

Before moving to Hong Kong, Zheng advanced through the ranks of the local administration in southern Guangdong province, where he also held the position of secretary general of the provincial Communist Party committee.

He is most known for putting an end to anti-corruption demonstrations that broke up in Wukan, a hamlet in Guangdong, in 2011 after one activist died while being held by the authorities.

During the Wukan riots, Zheng was cited by Hong Kong media as suggesting that the locals were “colluding with foreign media to foment problems.”

The head of the Liaison Office who is leaving, Luo, is anticipated to retire, according to Hong Kong media.