China appoints new Hong Kong Liaison Office chief

HONG KONG: China has appointed Zheng Yanxiong, head of the national security office in Hong Kong, as director of its Liaison Office in the city, the State Council, or cabinet, said in a notice on Saturday.

Zheng, who replaces Luo Huining, 68, as head of Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong, is among the Chinese and Hong Kong officials sanctioned by the United States after the city’s pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The 59-year-old Zheng came to prominence during a clampdown on land rights protests in a south Chinese village and was appointed in July 2020 director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security newly set up in Hong Kong. —AFP