Veteran official regains Hong Kong-Macau office post

Xu Ze, a veteran central government official for Hong Kong and Macau affairs, has been appointed to a second stint as a deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

Xu, 58, served in the office from the early 1980s until 2004, when he left to become a deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Macau, a post regarded as less important. He had held that post for the past nine years.

He will replace Hua Jian as one of the two deputy directors in the office in Beijing, alongside Zhou Bo. The office is headed by Wang Guangya .

Xu was a close aide of Lu Ping , the director of the office until his retirement in August 1997. Xu himself had been expected to retire when he turns 60.

Veteran mainland watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said Xu would fill the void left by former deputy director Zhang Xiaoming, who also worked on Hong Kong and Macau affairs for the State Council for decades.

Zhang was appointed director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong in December.