The "Two Sessions" of China's National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are about to open in Beijing next week. After the missing former Foreign Minister Qin Gang "resigned" as a deputy to the National People's Congress, a piece of news about the former Hong Kong and Macao affairs official Zhang Xiaoming's dismissal has also attracted the attention of outside public opinion.
According to a report from the People's Daily, the organ of the Communist Party of China, this Sunday, the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th CPPCC National Committee concluded in Beijing on the afternoon of March 2. The meeting voted to "pass the decision to remove Comrade Zhang Xiaoming from the 14th CPPCC National Committee." Decision on the position of deputy secretary-general of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference."
Public information shows that Zhang Xiaoming, 61, joined the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council of China in 1986 and has worked in fields involving Hong Kong and Macao for 36 years. He has participated in the drafting of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the establishment of the Provisional Legislative Council, and the work of the Secretariat of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Preparatory Committee. He has also experienced major events such as the 2014 Hong Kong Occupy Central movement, the rejection of the 2015 political reform plan, and the 2019 anti-extradition movement. incident, and served as director of the Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council. In 2020, Xia Baolong, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, concurrently served as Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, and Zhang Xiaoming was appointed as Executive Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office; in June 2022, Zhang Xiaoming was transferred to the position of Deputy Secretary-General of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The news of Zhang Xiaoming's dismissal attracted attention from the outside world. Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" noted that Chinese state media still referred to Zhang Xiaoming as "comrade" when reporting the above news; the online media "Hong Kong 01" quoted an unnamed member of the pro-establishment party who had frequent exchanges with Zhang Xiaoming as saying that the central government may be targeting Zhang Xiaoming. He has other plans for his future work.