A stranger and one familiar face: pair set to lead Chinese policy on Hong Kong are a mixed bag
Wang Yang and Li Zhanshu, the most senior of the new faces elevated to the apex of China’s leadership, likely to run city affairs
Li Zhanshu and Wang Yang, the most senior of the new faces elevated to the apex of China’s leadership on Wednesday, look set to take charge of Hong Kong affairs, judging by recent precedent.
One has yet to establish deep links while the other is a familiar face to Hongkongers.
Given his previous stints at the helm of neighbouring Guangdong province, Wang is well known in the city’s elite circles. On the other hand, Li, who spent the last term working in President Xi Jinping’s inner circle, has made no public remarks on Hong Kong and is relatively unknown to even pro-Beijing politicians.
Who among the seven Politburo Standing Committee members will chair the Hong Kong working group has yet to be announced. But if Xi sticks to the practice of the past five years of appointing the chairman of the National People’s Congress to lead the central government’s policies on Hong Kong, Li would be the point man.
Going by his third placing in the hierarchy announced on Wednesday, he is the presumptive chairman of the congress, likely to take over from Zhang Dejiang next March.
