Listening should be first job for Beijing's new man in Hong Kong

Moves to deepen control over the city instead bound to backfire

20200110 Luo Huining AP.jpg

Luo Huining, newly appointed director of the Hong Kong Liaison Office, will have to assert less control and do more consultation. © AP

Beijing's replacement of its chief representative in Hong Kong with a relatively senior mainland official with no local experience could offer an opportunity to improve the central government's policy toward the city after seven months of massive protests. All signs, however, point in the opposite direction.

Troubling signals out of October's high-level Chinese Communist Party meeting, the Fourth Plenum of the 19th Party Congress, indicate that Beijing wants to increase control over Hong Kong by cultivating a "correct" view of the country among local officials and youth to strengthen national security.

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