Chinese state leader Zhang Dejiang to visit Macau early next month for ‘major announcement’

China’s No 3 leader Zhang Dejiang is expected to make a “major announcement” when he visits Macau for two days early next month.

It will be his last trip to either of China’s two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, before a key Communist Party gathering later this year.

Sources in the casino hub with knowledge of the visit said the head of the National People’s Congress would make an important announcement during the visit, expected to take place between May 8 and 10.

The visit by Zhang, China’s top man responsible for Hong Kong and Macau, was confirmed in a one-line press release issued by Xinhua on Friday. The last time he visited either city was in May last year when he made a landmark trip to Hong Kong.

While Zhang met opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong’s pan-democratic camp during the last trip, Au Kam-san, one of the few pro-democracy lawmakers in Macau, said he would not be particularly interested in meeting the state leader even if there were such an opportunity.

“If it’s only an occasion for him to lecture us rather than having a meaningful exchange, I’m not interested,” he said.

Last month Zhang warned Hongkongers against politicising issues or challenging the bottom line of national sovereignty, cautioning that the city’s economic heft could be surpassed by neighbouring Shenzhen in just two years.

Macau, the world’s most cash-rich casino destination, has lately experienced an economic upturn, with growing gaming revenues in the first three months of this year.

Zhang’s trip comes ahead of an expected visit to Hong Kong by President Xi Jinping to mark the 20th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty after a century and a half of British colonial rule ended on June 30, 1997.

Later this year the 19th Communist Party Congress, which will establish China’s political hierarchy for the next five years, will take place at a date yet to be announced.

The twice-a-decade congress is crucial for Xi to secure lasting influence beyond 2022, when his own tenure is expected to end.

At this year’s meeting, 11 of 25 Politburo members, including five of seven members on its all-powerful standing committee, could be replaced.

Last month Zhang urged Hong Kong to “seize opportunities” that Beijing had reserved for the city in the nation’s “fast-track development” as countries around the world scramble for such favours.

He was also quoted as saying behind closed doors that Beijing was “entitled to have a say” in the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Additional reporting by Joyce Ng