The Chinese State Council has announced the departure of two deputy directors from its Liaison Office in Hong Kong.
Yin Xiaojing and Lin Wu, who took up their posts in 2010 and 2012 respectively, were relieved from their positions on Tuesday. The announcement did not give a reason, but both have reached the retirement age of 60. They will likely be replaced with new deputies who joined the office over the past two years.
Both Yin and Lin have been active in Hong Kong’s public sphere. Yin was responsible for United Front work, often appearing at events held by social and commercial organisations. Lin was responsible for reaching out to district groups and pro-Beijing political parties.
The United Front strategy seeks to coordinate efforts to exert Beijing’s influence and control in Hong Kong through the Communist Party’s Liaison Office in Sai Wan.
Yin was born in 1956 and graduated with a doctoral degree in engineering from the Institut National Polytechique de Lorraine in France. She worked in the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, Organization Department of Central Working Committee for Enterprise, and led the Third Bureau of the United Front Work Department in charge of Hong Kong affairs.
Lin was born in 1955 and received a masters’ degree in Marxism from Sun Yat-sen University’s philosophy department. He had worked in the Guangdong Province government and its congress, until moving to Hong Kong in 2001 to work for two local departments of the Liaison Office, where he eventually became a deputy director.
Huang Lanfa, the top ranking deputy director, will be 64 this year. He is also rumoured to be leaving his post soon.
Before Yin and Lin’s departure, Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong had nine deputies, including Tan Tieniu installed at the end of 2016, Chen Dong who arrived in February last year, and He Jing who was promoted from within the Liaison Office in August last year.
Wang Zhimin, the new director, took Zhang Xiaoming’s office in September last year, as Zhang moved to Beijing to head the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.
