Coronavirus: Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong makes email plea for unity, reassures city over supplies

Luo Huining asks city’s members of China’s legislature and advisory body to ‘quarantine virus, not hearts’, in his office’s first such communication by email

He says supplies from the mainland will continue to flow in as long as border checkpoints are open

Reading Time:4 minutes

Luo Huining, director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said the city and the mainland were in the same boat over the coronavirus. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:03pm, 20 Feb 2020Updated: 3:48am, 21 Feb 2020

Beijing’s top envoy in Hong Kong has written to pro-Beijing politicians in the city appealing to them for unity with mainland China in battling the coronavirus, and criticising those he said were using the crisis for political self-interest.

Luo Huining, the new director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, on Thursday sent a letter by email to local members of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s legislature, and top legislative advisory body the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), calling on them to stay calm and fight for the mainland and Hong Kong with “faith, love and unity”.

Calling it a “political coronavirus”, Luo also condemned “a few people” behind the strike by Hong Kong medical workers over the response to the outbreak, and said as long as border checkpoints remained open, ample food and hygiene supplies would continue to flow into the city.

A summary of the letter, which marked the first time a director of the liaison office had addressed the delegates by email, was posted on social media – also a first for the office.

A summary of the letter from Luo Huining was posted on social media. Photo: Handout

In the excerpts posted online, Luo said he had turned to the internet to connect with Hong Kong’s 36 NPC deputies and more than 120 CPPCC delegates because of the coronavirus outbreak, and said: “What we need to quarantine is the virus, not hearts.”