Coronavirus Hong Kong: Xi Jinping puts city government on notice, instructs it to bear ‘main responsibility’ to contain spiralling health crisis, focus on social stability

In a reflection of the mounting concern among China’s top leadership over Hong Kong’s predicament, pro-Beijing newspapers on Wednesday reported that Xi had instructed the local government to take all necessary measures to protect the lives and safety of the city’s residents and ensure overall social stability.

Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po reported that Xi had asked Vice-Premier Han Zheng, the top state leader overseeing the city’s affairs, to relay to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor the president’s “concern about the pandemic situation in the city and his care for Hong Kong residents”.

On a significant note, Beijing will upgrade oversight by establishing a top-level coordinating group to ensure effective anti-pandemic work. The group will be led by the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office as well as the National Health Commission, and will involve Beijing authorities and experts, as well as the Guangdong and local governments.

A mainland Chinese source involved in the arrangement said the new group would comprise No 1 officials from relevant government ministries and agencies reporting directly to Han so that authoritative and faster decisions could be made.

The reports cited Xi as speaking in his capacity as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, which is spearheading the country’s battle against the pandemic – underscoring Beijing’s response to Hong Kong’s crisis as a matter of national importance.

Xi stressed that Hong Kong “must earnestly take the main responsibility, and make it the overriding priority to stabilise and control the epidemic as soon as possible”.