Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong shrugs off doubts over future by thanking ‘reporter friends’ for their concern
- Wang Zhimin, head of the liaison office, refused to discuss reports that he would be moved to another post and asked reporters if he was ‘looking great’
- Wang’s future has been put under the spotlight amid a debate about whether his office misled the mood in the city during the ongoing protests
When senior Chinese officials delivered a stern message to Hong Kong on Tuesday, much of the attention was focused on the official diligently taking notes as the most senior figure spoke.
Wang Zhimin, Beijing’s top representative in the city, has seen his political fate become the talk of the town as the city’s anti-government protests – triggered by a now-withdrawn extradition bill – dragged on into their sixth month.
Much of the discussion has centred on whether Beijing had misread the mood in Hong Kong because Wang’s Central People’s Government Liaison Office failed to pass on accurate intelligence.
A landslide defeat for pro-Beijing candidates in the city’s district council elections last month, as well as speculation in the international media – later denied by the foreign ministry – that Wang was about to be replaced, have only added to the whirl of gossip.
But when he appeared at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, for a symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to Chinese rule, Wang appeared keen to put a positive face on things.
“How is it? Do I look great?” he asked reporters after the event.
