London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

Beijing’s outreach drive means Carrie Lam’s to-do list just got longer

Beijing’s outreach drive means Carrie Lam’s to-do list just got longer

Officials at liaison office in Hong Kong have compiled list of 500 items after meeting with residents, and deputy director says some of those will be passed on to the chief executive’s administration.

Beijing’s top agency in Hong Kong has prepared a to-do list for the local administration and its own officials to improve the city’s governance based on a recent outreach drive, as a deputy director promised more of such programmes to gauge public sentiment.

A source said the central government’s liaison office in the city had compiled a list of 500 measures to be implemented after meeting thousands of residents and analysing the feedback.

Lu Xinning, one of the seven deputy directors at the office, made the pledge to extend its outreach work just over a week after launching a drive to “listen directly” to ordinary Hongkongers.

Officials have made more than a dozen visits since the end of last month to meet residents, ranging from the underprivileged to young entrepreneurs. They have also mobilised 40 Chinese enterprises to also reach out to the community.

Lu Xinning visits residents in a subdivided flat in To Kwa Wan.


At a press briefing, Lu revealed that more than 80 per cent of liaison office staff had taken part in the campaign, in which they talked to 3,985 residents – including elderly people living on their own, the unemployed, new immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups – after visiting 979 subdivided flats, public housing units and small and medium-sized enterprises.

They had also received 6,347 opinions focusing on day-to-day issues, ranging from livelihood to development concerns, as well as those relating to Hong Kong’s integration with mainland China.

“Luo Huining [the liaison office’s director] has ordered his staff ‘not to let go of any piece of opinion received’ and that they should ‘record in detail and properly consolidate’,” Lu said.

“We will immediately handle those items which are within the purview of the liaison office. For the items which fall within the scope of the local government, we will consolidate a checklist and pass it on to them.”

A source said policy initiatives that the liaison office would handle included those relating to the functions of mainland authorities, such as cooperation between Hong Kong and its neighbouring cities in southern China, as well as the reopening of the border.

Pointing out that a key duty of the liaison office was to “get in touch with different sectors in Hong Kong”, Lu emphasised that it had given the city administration advance notice of its campaign, which local officials were eventually involved in.

The campaign, she said, was designed to broaden the central government’s understanding of the everyday lives of Hongkongers, while promoting Beijing’s latest policies and explaining how they benefited residents. It was also about gauging the views of the public and reaching out to the city’s young people.

She also said the office would change after keeping a low profile in the past, and vowed to make the outreach drive a regular event in a bid to gain a better grasp of public opinion.

“The liaison office, from now on, will implement the central government’s order to continue to take up the responsibilities of liaising with different sectors. We will make the public outreach regular in order to better understand public sentiment,” Lu said. “We will continue to support the chief executive and the city government to govern according to law.”

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has dismissed the idea that Beijing’s officials in the city are forming a ‘second governing team’.


Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her cabinet were seen as coming under pressure to meet Beijing’s expectations after the liaison office launched its charm offensive a week before her policy address last Wednesday.

On Sunday, Lam brushed aside suggestions that Beijing’s officials in the city were forming a “second governing team”, saying it was good for them to develop a better understanding of the city, given that many local policies needed central government support.

Ultimately it was her administration that was responsible for resolving the city’s social and economic problems, she stressed.

Political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the liaison office’s latest move signalled yet another significant change in its remit. He said that it was increasingly emerging as a “second governing team” in the city with a supervisory role over the local administration.

“In the early days after the city’s handover [from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997], it tried to remain invisible to avoid putting the local administration under any pressure,” he said.

“But in recent years, it has started to get involved behind the scenes by getting involved in election coordination or the picking of government officials.

“This time, the office has decided to go to the front line and even issued statements telling the government of the problems that it needs to fix.”

Choy also suggested the autonomy previously enjoyed by the local administration had clearly decreased over the past few years, pointing to most of the city’s key policies of recent times – such as the national security law and the electoral overhaul – being implemented by Beijing on a top-down basis.

Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei said it was his understanding that the liaison office’s role was to support communication between Beijing and different sectors in Hong Kong.

“Hongkongers’ views over the city’s governance should be handled by the local government itself under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework,” he said, also claiming the liaison office’s broader role reflected the ineffectiveness of the city government.

Professor Song Sio-chong, of Shenzhen University’s Centre for Basic Laws of Hong Kong and Macau, dismissed suggestions that the central government had crossed the line when it came to the one country, two systems governing principle for the city.

“In the early 2000s, the central government exercised self-restraint and minimised the liaison office’s responsibility to a very low level. But the whole situation changed after the ‘black violence’ of 2019,” he said, referring to the civil unrest of two years ago.

Song said that under Beijing’s understanding of its “comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong, it could get involved in various policy areas.

“You may say that housing and livelihood are within Hong Kong’s scope of autonomy, but Beijing also has the power to monitor and supervise the city government’s exercise of its ‘high degree of autonomy’,” he said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×