My Take | New man from Beijing signals Hong Kong policy shift
- Wang Zhimin may have been effectively sacked for constantly misreading the public mood, but the city leader’s backing of the police has kept her in a job
No one was surprised by the effective sacking in Hong Kong of liaison office chief Wang Zhimin, least of all himself. Even his most sympathetic defenders would have to admit his remarkable consistency in misreading the city’s public mood and misdirecting policy advice for Beijing during the seven-month-old unrest.
Unlike Wang, a Hong Kong and Macau affairs specialist, Luo has never dealt with the city. This means Beijing has taken a dim view of the supposed local “expertise” of Wang and his team.
Interestingly, Luo also has no diplomatic experience, at a time when the unrest in Hong Kong has been internationalised – skilfully by the local opposition and protest movement – into an issue in the increasingly hostile relationship between China and the United States, and also a cause of friction with Britain and much of Europe.
At 65, Luo was set for retirement. This means he can do what he thinks is necessary in Hong Kong and not worry about damage to his career prospects. So, for better or worse, whether to expect a harsher or more moderate line from Beijing, a policy shift towards Hong Kong is likely.
Another question that has been on people’s minds is: why just Wang and not Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor?
Their two situations, however, are completely different. Both Wang and the pro-Beijing establishment, notably the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, bought into the fatal illusion of a silent majority ready to punish the opposition for the protesters’ mayhem at the district polls in November.