Beijing’s liaison office sends hundreds of teams to visit low-income Hongkongers in latest charm offensive
- Analysts see outreach campaign as evidence of central government’s intention to take hands-on approach to resolving city’s deep-seated livelihood issues
- Mainland Chinese official source says push will bring the office ‘closer to the people of Hong Kong’
Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong has sent teams to visit 1,500 low-income households in an unprecedented outreach campaign, revealing the ramped-up charm offensive one day after the centenary of the Communist Party and the 24th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule.
The new outreach efforts came six months after Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong, liaison office director Luo Huining, made a high-profile string of visits to several underprivileged residents during the Mid-Autumn Festival last October.
On Friday, the office said it had sent 300 “volunteer groups” to visit 1,500 working-class families in Hong Kong, including residents of public housing, new immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups. Five of its deputy directors – Chen Dong, Qiu Hong, Lu Xinning, He Jing and Yin Zonghua – also personally took part in several visits, it added. Director Luo is currently in Beijing attending the celebrations for the party’s 100th anniversary.
“This is the way we celebrate the centenary of the founding of the [party] and the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland,” the office said in its statement on Friday.