Hong Kong to send more civil servants across border to Greater Bay Area under exchange scheme

City leader Carrie Lam says scheme will boost local government workers’ understanding of the mainland system

Union chief Leung Chau-ting asks what lower-level civil servants can learn on the mainland, suggesting move is ‘political education’

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The Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme has been running since 2002. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 9:33pm, 11 May 2021Updated: 10:13pm, 11 May 2021

Hong Kong will send more civil servants for working stints across the border in the Greater Bay Area under an extended exchange deal to be signed with mainland Chinese authorities, the city’s leader has revealed.

The scheme would boost local government workers’ understanding of the mainland system, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, adding that their counterparts from across the border could also take up posts in Hong Kong under agreements with Guangdong and Shenzhen authorities.

Lam made the comments in an interview with state media CCTV on Monday, in which she mentioned the need to enhance national education in schools, and reiterated that civil servants who had not signed an allegiance declaration would have to leave their jobs.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam revealed the plan in an interview with state media CCTV on Monday. Photo: Felix Wong

“We hope Hong Kong’s civil servants can better understand how the Greater Bay Area cities promote their policies and work,” Lam said.

“Soon we are going to sign agreements with Guangdong and Shenzhen so that civil servants can be posted to work on either side for a certain period of time … [Hong Kong civil servants can go over] to study, or to understand more about the mainland situation.”