SARs' guardian group expanded

Five senior Beijing officials specializing in security and foreign affairs have been appointed to aid Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang in overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Apart from director of the SARs' affairs office Xia Baolong, 70, the head of the party's United Front Work Department Shi Taifeng, 66, and the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Chen Wenqing, 63, were named deputies for the party's leading group on Hong Kong and Macau.

Both are members of the Politburo.

The other two deputies are state councilors - Central Committee Secretariat and Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong, 65, and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, 57.

The list was revealed by Macau's Jornal San Wa Ou publisher and editor-in-chief Lam Chong.

Lam said he was told about the appointments when he met with Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office deputy director Yang Wanming on a Beijing trip.

The group only had three deputies before the 2019 unrest.

Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies consultant Lau Siu-kai said Beijing has retained the five-strong deputy structure with officials specializing in united front work, diplomacy and law.

"This shows the central government believes Hong Kong's national security risks have not stabilized or are still at stake," he said.

Lau said Beijing is preventing Hong Kong from becoming an anti-national security base, while also guarding against foreign intervention.

The Chinese Communist Party last month announced upgrading the HKMAO from the State Council to be directly under the party.

However, no appointments have been made on who would head the office, with some speculating that Xia, director of the office since 2020, would take the post.

Lau said he would not rule out that possibility since Xia has helped restore law and order in Hong Kong.