Another top-level change at the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong, a “tsunami” of internal adjustments

Yin Zonghua becomes deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong. (Photo / Taken from Weibo)

According to public information, Yin Zonghua, 56, born in August 1964, a native of Zhejiang province, has a doctorate in economics from Nankai University. He has long worked in the Ministry of Commerce (Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation) and served as Minister-Counsellor for Economic and Commercial Affairs in the European Union Mission, and later as Director General of the Department of International Trade and Economic Relations of the Ministry of Commerce, Director General of the Department of World Trade Organization, and Vice President of the CCPOCHK.

In March 2019, Yin became the deputy director of the Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on the mainland, becoming a vice-ministerial-level official with extensive contacts with CPPCC members in Hong Kong and Macao, and a grasp of Hong Kong affairs.

The Liaison Office was earlier rumored to have a “tsunami” of large-scale internal personnel adjustments. It is reported that the staff establishment of the Liaison Office is about 480 people, this staff change wave involves half of the establishment, about 240 positions, the scale of the past rare, and not only involves the grassroots positions, but also touch the management of the ministry. Sources close to the matter believe that this personnel change is a sign that Beijing‘s approach to Hong Kong has entered a “reform phase.