Top Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong orders local politicians to repeatedly deliver tangible results for residents

Coming up with policies not enough; reforms must offer benefits that residents can ‘see, touch and feel’, says Xia Baolong of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office

Xia also lashes out at now-defunct Apple Daily as he praises authorities’ national security crackdown on ‘toxic media outlet’

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Those running Hong Kong’s affairs must repeatedly deliver for the public in order to meet the standards set by a senior Beijing official. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:59pm, 30 Jul 2021Updated: 12:45am, 31 Jul 2021

A top Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs has urged local politicians to win the public’s trust by delivering results in several policy areas every year that residents can “see, touch and feel”.

Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, also praised city authorities for their national security crackdown on Apple Daily, the tabloid-style newspaper known for its anti-Beijing stance that ceased publication in late June after 26 years in circulation.

He described the now-defunct paper as Hong Kong’s “largest toxic media outlet which was anti-China, troublemaking and had committed serious crimes”.

The previously unreported remarks were made during a closed-door seminar in Beijing two weeks ago. Parts of his speech were covered at the time by the Post and other media, but a full transcript was only released on Friday by a pro-establishment publication in Hong Kong.

Xia, as reported earlier, spelled out the qualities needed in those running the city – requiring them to be staunch patriots, proactive in protecting national security and capable of strategic thinking to solve long-standing local problems.

Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office chief Xia Baolong. Photo: Handout