The head of a new central government think-tank to plot strategy on Hong Kong's political development will report directly to Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, who oversees the city's affairs.
Sources said that Zhu Yucheng, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Research Institute, was a classmate of Mr Zeng's at a Beijing middle school for the children of senior mainland officials.
The South China Morning Post reported last month that the central government had set up the think-tank in December to study political reform in Hong Kong. The institute is attached to the cabinet-level Development Research Centre of the State Council, the main central government policy unit.
Mr Zhu, 66, is expected to report directly to Mr Zeng, who heads the Communist Party's leading group on Hong Kong affairs.
The former vice-director of Xinhua's Hong Kong branch, Mr Zhu visited Hong Kong last month, following the setting up of the institute, to meet businessmen and academics.
The Xinhua branch in Hong Kong was the predecessor of the central government's liaison office in the city.
