ExclusiveBeijing’s national security office in Hong Kong ‘to move out of Causeway Bay’

Name: Hong Kong hotel becomes home to Beijing’s new national security office in the city
Uploaded: 2021-02-26T13:04:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 45 s
Description: Hong Kong hotel becomes home to Beijing’s new national security office in the city

Post also learns HK$8 billion marked for security law may be spent on wages of seconded staff from disciplined services who work on related cases that are separate from agency

Details of new site in city for office and exact date of relocation, as well as reasons for the move, remain unknown

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The current site of the national security office in Causeway Bay. Photo: May Tse

SCMP Reporter

Published: 9:04pm, 26 Feb 2021Updated: 9:52pm, 26 Feb 2021

Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong will move out from its base at the Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay, after nearly eight months of operations, according to a government source.

The source however stopped short of revealing the location of the new site and the exact relocation date, as well as the reasons behind the move.

The plans to move the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government surfaced on Friday, one day after the government made clear that the funding for the office came from Beijing, not the city’s own coffers.

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Hong Kong hotel becomes home to Beijing’s new national security office in the city

The city’s annual budget unveiled on Wednesday had shown that HK$8 billion had been earmarked for national security in the coming years. The government later explained the provision had nothing to do with the national security office in Causeway Bay, as its operations were funded by the central government.

On Friday, the Post learned the HK$8 billion could be used to cover the salaries of personnel from the city’s disciplined services who were seconded to work on national security cases. The funds could also be used on rent for their joint office, as well as equipment costs, with the money classified under national security purposes so it would not need to be vetted by the legislature.

Zheng Zehui (right), deputy mayor and public security bureau head in Zhongshan, and Deng Jianwei, a standing committee member of Foshan and also the secretary of the political and legal committee, are two senior officials that have recently joined the agency. Photo: Handout

While it was unclear if the office’s relocation was because of expansion plans, it was revealed on Monday that two senior Guangdong officials had recently joined the agency, which was staffed by more than 200 employees when it opened last July.