What explains the changes to Hong Kong leader’s annual duty visit to Beijing? They signal Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bigger, more direct role in city affairs, observers say

Beijing will require both Hong Kong and Macau to deliver ‘more substantial’ results in key areas as the visits have become ‘more institutionalised’, observers say

Unlike previous duty visits, the Chinese president and premier both met the chief executive in the same single closed-door meeting

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President Xi Jinping (right) meets Chief Executive John Lee in Beijing on Monday. Photo: ISD

Published: 8:00am, 21 Dec 2023

A seeming procedural change this week to the annual duty visits by the leaders of Hong Kong and Macau belies its deeper, more substantive impact.

Giving this assessment, observers said that the changes reflected the strengthened leadership roles of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party in the cities’ affairs, as well as a streamlined bureaucracy aiming to improve policy delivery and accountability.

With the change, Beijing was also signalling its expectations that the administrations deliver “more substantial” results in key areas with a clearer reporting line as the format of the visits were made “more institutionalised”, they said.

For Hong Kong, led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the changes could result in improved execution of policies in matters of national security and district administration, policy pundits said after analysing remarks from Xi and Lee.

President Xi Jinping presides over Monday’s meeting with John Lee sitting to his right and Premier Li Qiang to his left. Photo: Pool

The purpose of the duty visits, which have been carried out every year since Hong Kong and Macau were returned to Chinese rule, is for the chief executives to brief state leaders about their work.