Did Beijing send five Hong Kong civil servants to UN as an olive branch to city’s youth in hope of quelling protests?

Group seconded to work at Junior Professional Officer Programme’s New York headquarters and offices in Geneva and Vienna for two years

Beijing’s top diplomat in Hong Kong, Xie Feng, says at event to announce move that radical protesters do not represent city’s youth

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam with Xie Feng, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs office commissioner (front row, third from left), as well as other officials and the five civil servants (back row) picked to join the programme. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:53pm, 23 Dec 2019Updated: 1:05am, 24 Dec 2019

Five young Hong Kong civil servants have been recommended by Beijing to take up positions in the United Nations from next month, in a move seen as a softer approach by the central government to embrace the city’s youth and give them global exposure amid the ongoing social unrest.

The announcement on Monday marked the first time that mainland Chinese authorities have worked with Hong Kong officials to allow the city’s civil servants to join the UN Junior Professional Officer Programme, set up in 1963.

The group, selected from a range of agencies, will be seconded to work at the UN’s New York headquarters and offices in Geneva and Vienna for two years.

At a ceremony to announce the move, Beijing’s top diplomat in Hong Kong signalled a different approach to the protests, which are now into their seventh month. Xie Feng, commissioner of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs office, said that radical protesters were only in the minority and did not represent the entire younger generation in the city.

“Some young people have lost themselves by taking part in street violence and illegal activities, vandalising, setting fires and assaulting police or citizens, as well as desecrating the national flag and waving foreign ones or begging for outside intervention,” he added.

Xie Feng, Beijing’s top diplomat in Hong Kong, speaks at the ceremony. Photo: K.Y. Cheng