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William Zheng

Zhang Xiaoming, formerly Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong and Macau affairs, has resigned from China’s top political advisory body, marking an official end to his political career, state media reported.
Zhang’s exit from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), supervised by the ruling Communist Party, comes three months after he was removed as deputy secretary general of the political advisory body.
Zhang’s resignation as a member of the CPPCC’s Standing Committee and its National Committee was accepted at a Standing Committee meeting that adjourned on Thursday in Beijing.
The report by state-run Xinhua news agency was brief and did not give a reason for his resignation.
The 60-year-old Zhang was a ministerial-level official, putting him below the usual retirement age of 65 for that rank.
He began working at the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) in 1989 after graduating from the law school of Renmin University in Beijing. He served as the agency’s deputy director from 2004 to 2012.
He was promoted to director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong in 2012, then became director of the HKMAO in 2017.
But Zhang’s term was rocked by anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019, which were triggered by an extradition bill that was withdrawn soon after the protests began.
In February 2020, the central government appointed Xia Baolong, then the CPPCC’s vice-chairman and secretary general, to take over as HKMAO director, while Zhang was made executive deputy director.
In 2022, Zhang was appointed to the role of CPPCC deputy secretary general. He was replaced at the HKMAO last year by Zhou Ji, the former deputy party secretary and security chief of Henan province.


The CPPCC Standing Committee also approved the resignation of Wang Tian, chairman of the Chinese electronics conglomerate BBK Group, from his role as a member of the political advisory body during the meeting that concluded on Thursday.
It also revoked the CPPCC membership of China’s former sports chief Gou Zhongwen, who was detained by anti-corruption authorities on May 30. Gou was also removed from his positions as a CPPCC Standing Committee member and deputy director of the CPPCC’s Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.
The Standing Committee ratified the decision to revoke the CPPCC membership of former justice minister Tang Yijun, who was put under investigation for suspected corruption in April.
A few senior officials who retired from frontline duties were offered CPPCC roles at the meeting, including China’s former health minister Ma Xiaowei and former top financial regulator Yi Huiman.
Yi was appointed deputy director of the CPPCC’s Economic Committee, while Ma Xiaowei became deputy director of its Education, Science, Health and Sports Committee.
Wang Huning, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the CPPCC, presided over the meeting, according to Xinhua.
He called on CPPCC members to conduct in-depth research and consultation, enhance democratic oversight and build consensus to make suggestions on and contribute to developing a “high-standard socialist market economy”.
After the meeting, Yin Shouyi, vice-dean of Tsinghua University’s school of integrated circuits, gave a lecture on the prospects and challenges of China’s chip industry.


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Zhang Xiaoming, whose time as director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office was rocked by anti-government protests, exits the CPPCC


Zhang Xiaoming, whose time as director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office was rocked by anti-government protests, exits the CPPCC.


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