Beijing taps personnel veteran Xu Qifang for Hong Kong and Macau post

Beijing has appointed Xu Qifang, a former Communist Party personnel official, to the second-most senior position in the top body managing Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Xu, 60, the former deputy chief of the party’s Organisation Department has become the executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, according to several sources.

The sources said Xu would be promoted from deputy ministerial to full ministerial rank. As the office’s executive director, Xu reports to director Xia Baolong, who oversees the office’s daily operations.

“[Xu] has reported to work at the Hong Kong and Macau [Affairs Office]. Senior officials in the office have met with him,” said one source who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The office indirectly confirmed Xu’s arrival on Friday in an announcement of Xia’s visit to invited members from Hong Kong and Macau attending the National Committee of the All-China Youth Federation in Beijing. The announcement referred to Xu as the deputy director of the office.

Xu has been a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top political advisory body, since 2023.

Xu fills the vacancy left by Zhou Ji, who was parachuted south to become the director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong after former liaison office chief Zheng Yanxiong was abruptly removed at the end of May after two years in the position.

South China Morning Post